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The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Scientific and Media Articles based on Major Keyword - Diamond - Genesis
The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation is compiled by Patricia Sheahan who publishes on a monthly basis a list of new scientific articles related to diamonds as well as media coverage and corporate announcements called the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service that is distributed as a free pdf to a list of followers. Pat has kindly agreed to allow her work to be made available as an online digital resource at Kaiser Research Online so that a broader community interested in diamonds and related geology can benefit. The references are for personal use information purposes only; when available a link is provided to an online location where the full article can be accessed or purchased directly. Reproduction of this compilation in part or in whole without permission from the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service is strictly prohibited. Return to Diamond Keyword Index
Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Scientific Articles by Author for all years
Each article reference in the SDLRC is tagged with one or more key words assigned by Pat Sheahan to highlight the main topics of the article. In an effort to make it easier for users to track down articles related to a specific topic, KRO has extracted these key words and developed a list of major key words presented in this Key Word Index to which individual key words used in the article reference have been assigned. In most of the individual Key Word Reports the references are in crhonological order, though in some such as Deposits the order is first by key word and then chronological. Only articles classified as "technical" (mainly scientific journal articles) and "media" (independent media articles) are included in the Key Word Index. References that were added in the most recent monthly update are highlighted in yellow.
Diamond - Genesis articles deal with how diamonds are formed. A fascinating topic made absolutely mind-numbing by the experts.
The Origin of the Vaal River Diamonds. Some Recent Dicoveries and Important Deductions. Mr Harger's Paper. New Theories on the Genesis of the Diamonds.
South African Mining Journal, Vol. 7, PT. 2, No. 342, SEPT. 25TH. PP. 41-42. PT. 2, No. 34
Some Problems of Mineral Genesis in South Africa. Presidential Address to the Second Annual Meeting of the Mineralogical Society of America, Amherst, Massachusetts.
The Genesis of the Diamond. a Geological, Mineralogical, Crystallographical, Petrographical and Chemical Study of Kimberlite and its Associated Cognate and Accidental Inclusions.
Paleomagnetism of Pseudotrachylites from the Ikertoq Shear Belt, and Their Relationship to the Kimberlite-lamprophyre Province, Central West Greenland.
Geological Society DEN. Bulletin., Vol. 30, No. 1-2, PP. 51-61.
Microtopography of Micro Diamonds from Sedimentary Covers In the South Western Part of the Eastern European Platform And a Possible Genetic Interpretation.
Evaluation of the Diamond Content of Deep Seated Rocks (kimberlites) Based on the Calculation of Free Energy of the Diamond Dissolution Iron Containing Melt.
Doklady Academy of Sciences AKAD. NAUK SSSR., Vol. 271, No. 2, PP. 443-446.
The Alleged Kimberlite-carbonatite Relationship: Evidence from Ilmenite and Spinel from Premier and Wesselton Mines and the Benfontein Sill, South Africa.
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, Vol. 85, No. 2, PP. 133-140.
The Forming and Distribution of Kiberlites in the Eastern Part of the Siberian Platform in Relation with its Deep Structural Peculiar Charact Ertistics.
Izv. Akad. Nauk Geol. Ser., No. 3, MARCH PP. 54-65.
An Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Partial Melting in the System Kalsio4 Cao Mgo Sio2 Cos and Applications to The Genesis of Potassic Magmas, Carbonatites and Kimberlites.
Proceedings of Third International Kimberlite Conference, Vol. 1, PP. 359-369.
Cawthorn, R.G., Maske, S., de Wit, M., Groves, D.I., Cassidy, K.
Mineralogical geochemical indicators of the formation conditions of apatite bearing carbonatites of the Arbarastakh Massif,Southern Yakutia (USSR).(Russian)
Conditions of formation of kimberlite diamond and The problem of Diamond bearing capacity from the point of view of theory of open catalyticsystems.(Russian)
Geochemistry International (Geokhimiya), (Russian), No. 7, pp. 961-972
Conditions of formation of kimberlite diamonds and problem of Diamond bearing capacity from the point of view of theory of opencatalytic-systems.(Russian)
Geochemistry International (Geokhimiya), (Russian), No. 7, July pp. 961-972
Dissolution of diamond in kimberlitic melts at 7 and 9 GPa
Geological Association of Canada (GAC), Geological Association of Canada (GAC)/Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) Annual Meeting, Abstract, Abstract Vol. p. A109
Diamonds, kimberlites and lamproites in the Wyoming Craton, Western USA
Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME)/American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) PHoenix, Arizona, March 14th., p. 49. Abstract
Experimental evidence for liquid immiscibility in the model system CaCO3 pyrope pyrrhotite at 7.0 GPa: role of carbonatite and sulfide melts in diamond genesis
Peridotite eclogite carbonatite systems at 7.0-8.5 GPa: concentration barrier of diamond nucleation and syngenesis of the silicate and carbonate inclusions.
Russian Geology and Geophysics, Vol. 50, 12, pp. 1221-1233.
Trace element chemistry of mineral inclusions in eclogitic diamonds from the Premier ( Cullinan) and Finsch kimberlites: implications for evolution mantle
Role of iron and reducing conditions on the stability of dolomite + coesite between 4.25 and 6 GPa - a potential mechanism for diamond formation during subduction
European Journal of Mineralogy, Vol. 23, 1, pp. 5-16.
Martin, A.M., Laporte, D., Koga, K.T., Kawamoto, T., Hammouda, T.
Experimental study of the stability of a dolomite + coesite assemblage in contact with peridotite: implications for sediment-mantle interaction and diamond formation during subduction.
PGE geochemistry of Diamondiferous and non-Diamondiferous kimberlites from eastern Dharwar craton, southern India: implications for understanding the nature of the mantle below Dharwar.
10th. International Kimberlite Conference Held Bangalore India Feb. 6-11, Poster abstract
Isotopic constraints on the nature and circulation of deep mantle C-H-O-N fluids: carbon and nitrogen systematics within super deep diamonds from Kankan Guinea.
Geological Society of America Conference Vancouver Oct. 19-22, 1p. Abstract
Abstract: Physical-chemical experimental studies at 12-23 GPa of phase relationships within four-members carbonate system MgCO3-FeCO3-CaCO3-Na2CO3 and its marginal system MgCO3-FeCO3-Na2CO3 were carried out. The systems are quite representative for a set of carbonate phases from inclusions in diamonds within transitional zone and lower mantle. PT-phase diagrams of multicomponent carbonate systems are suggested. PT parameters of boundaries of their eutectic melting (solidus), complete melting (liquids) are established. These boundaries define area of partial melting. Carbonate melts are stable, completely mixable, and effective solvents of elemental carbon thus defining the possibility of ultra-deep diamonds generation.
Abstract: Under high pressures, water can react with surrounding rock to make diamonds and oil. These are just two consequences of a new picture of water's versatile chemistry in the mantle. The Deep Earth Water model is showing that, under extreme pressures down to 200 kilometers, water can dissolve many ions and host unexpected new reactions. It is replacing a geochemical framework, published in 1981, which made predictions for water-rock interactions, but only down to 15 kilometers. The idea that oil can be made from water and rock in the mantle is controversial, because it has long been assumed that oil arises through the compaction and burial of organic matter.
43rd Annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum Abstracts, abstract p. 98.
Mantle
Diamond genesis
Abstract: Studies of mineral inclusions in diamond have conclusively established that the principal diamond substrates in Earth's mantle are peridotitic (about 2/3) and eclogitic (about 1/3) domains located at 140-200 km depth in the subcratonic lithosphere. There, the formation of the dominant harzburgitic diamond association generally occurred under subsolidus (melt-absent) conditions. In eclogitic and lherzolitic substrates, however, diamond grew in the presence of a melt, with relatively rare exceptions relating to formation from strongly reducing fluids or at relatively low pressure (<50 kbar) and temperature (<1050°C). Complex internal growth structures indicate that in many instances, diamond formation did not occur in a single short lived event. The observed close agreement of radiometric ages involving different isotope systems and inclusion minerals for diamonds from individual occurrences, however, cannot be coincidental and implies that the temporal extent of individual diamond growth events is contained within the uncertainty of the age dates. Diamond formed through most of Earth's history, from the Paleoarchean to at least the Mesozoic. Diamond forming episodes occur on regional to global scales in response to tectonothermal events such as suturing, subduction and plume impact. Individual diamond forming episodes may be associated with particular substrates, with harzburgitic paragenesis diamonds generally yielding Paleoarchean (3.6-3.2 Ga) ages and lherzolitic paragenesis diamonds forming mostly in the Paleoproterozoic at ~2 Ga. Peridotitic diamond growth, however, continued through Earth's history, with the youngest age date being ~90 Ma. Formation of diamonds hosted by eclogite is documented from the Mesoarchean to the Neoproterozoic (2.9 and 0.6 Ga) and may well continue up to the present. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that formation of fibrous diamonds and diamond coats often is penecontemporaneous to kimberlite magmatism and hence, for the Central Slave, may even extent into the Tertiary. When it comes to the actual process(es) driving the precipitation of diamond, our knowledge is much less complete. Diamond grows during the infiltration of carbon-bearing fluids or melts into a suitable substrate. But what exactly is the diamond forming reaction that occurs there? The conventional view that redox reactions between percolating fluids/melts and wall rocks are nature's diamond recipe is inconsistent with both the low redox capacity of lithospheric mantle and the occurrence of large diamonds. Based on thermodynamic modeling, we instead propose that isochemical cooling or ascent of carbon-bearing fluids is a key mechanism of diamond formation. It operates particularly efficiently in chemically depleted mantle rocks (harzburgite), where a high melting temperature precludes dilution of the infiltrating fluid (see above), thereby explaining the long observed close association between diamond and harzburgitic garnet.
Abstract: Diamond formation has typically been attributed to redox reactions during precipitation from fluids or magmas. Either the oxidation of methane or the reduction of carbon dioxide has been suggested, based on simplistic models of deep fluids consisting of mixtures of dissolved neutral gas molecules without consideration of aqueous ions. The role of pH changes associated with water–silicate rock interactions during diamond formation is unknown. Here we show that diamonds could form due to a drop in pH during water–rock interactions. We use a recent theoretical model of deep fluids that includes ions, to show that fluid can react irreversibly with eclogite at 900?°C and 5.0?GPa, generating diamond and secondary minerals due to a decrease in pH at almost constant oxygen fugacity. Overall, our results constitute a new quantitative theory of diamond formation as a consequence of the reaction of deep fluids with the rock types that they encounter during migration. Diamond can form in the deep Earth during water–rock interactions without changes in oxidation state.
43rd Annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum Abstracts, abstract p. 108.
Canada, Northwest Territories
Diamond genesis
Abstract: Diamonds from the Ekati and Diavik mines have provided a wealth of information on diamond forming processes beneath the Slave craton. Fluid-rich “fibrous” diamonds trap some of the fluid from which the diamond is growing and hence provide a unique means to characterize directly the fluids that percolate through the deep continental lithospheric mantle. On a world-wide basis, Ekatic and Diavik fluid-rich diamonds trap an anomalously high proportion of fuids that are “salty” or high saline in composition, with high Na and Cl contents. The origin of these “salty” fluids has been something of a mystery. Here we show the first clear chemical evolutionary trend identifying saline fluids as parental to silicic and carbonatitic deep mantle melts, in diamonds from the Northwest Territories, Canada. Fluid-rock interaction along with in-situ melting cause compositional transitions, as the saline fluids traverse mixed peridotite-eclogite lithosphere. Moreover, the chemistry of the parental saline fluids - especially their Sr isotopic compositions - and the timing of host diamond formation suggest a subducting Mesozoic plate under western North America to be the source of the fluids. Our results imply a strong association between subduction, mantle metasomatism and fluid-rich diamond formation, emphasizing the importance of subduction-derived fluids in impacting the composition of the deep lithospheric mantle
International Geology Review, Vol. 58, 3, pp. 263-276.
Mantle
Diamond genesis
Abstract: Earth is a water planet, but how much water exists on and in the Earth? Is the water limited to the Earth’s surface and limited depths of our planet (molecular water of the hydrosphere), or do deep reservoirs of hydrogen and oxygen really exist as proposed in recent works but not yet proven? Due to the importance of H2O for life and geological processes on the Earth, these questions are among the most significant in all of the Earth sciences. Water must be present in the deep Earth as plate tectonics could not work without water as a major driving force that lowers both viscosity and density of the solid mineral phases of the interior and controls the onset of melting. On subduction, water is returned to the hydrosphere first by dewatering of hydrous phases and second by melting and arc magmatism in and above the subducting slab. The mantle is composed of oxygen minerals, and the extent to which hydrogen is dissolved in them constitutes the true reservoir of the planet’s water. Are ‘deep water and diamonds’ intimately related as indicated in the title of the present article? What is the connection between these two important terrestrial materials? The necessity to review this issue arises from the recent discovery of a strongly hydrous ringwoodite in a Brazilian diamond. As ringwoodite constitutes 60% or more of the lower part of the transition zone, between 525 and 660 km depth, this could correspond to a huge amount of water in this region, comparable or greater in mass to all of Earth’s hydrosphere. If the water found in this ringwoodite is representative of the water concentrations of the transition zone, then estimates of Earth’s total water reservoir are in need of major revision. This work is an attempt at such a revision.
Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, Vol. 42, pp. 817-824.
Mantle
Carbonatite, diamond genesis
Abstract: Carbonatic components of parental melts of the deeper mantle diamonds are inferred from their primary inclusions of (Mg, Fe, Ca, Na)-carbonate minerals trapped at PT conditions of the Earth’s transition zone and lower mantle. PT phase diagrams of MgCO3-FeCO3-CaCO3-Na2CO3 system and its ternary MgCO3-FeCO3-Na2CO3 boundary join were studied at pressures between 12 and 24 GPa and high temperatures. Experimental data point to eutectic solidus phase relations and indicate liquidus boundaries for completely miscible (Mg, Fe, Ca, Na)- and (Mg, Fe, Ca)-carbonate melts. PT fields for partial carbonate melts associated with (Mg, Fe)-, (Ca, Fe, Na)-, and (Na2Ca, Na2Fe)-carbonate solid solution phases are determined. Effective nucleation and mass crystallization of deeper mantle diamonds are realized in multicomponent (Mg, Fe, Ca, Na)-carbonatite-carbon melts at 18 and 26 GPa. The multicomponent carbonate systems were melted at temperatures that are lower than the geothermal ones. This gives an evidence for generation of diamond-parental carbonatite melts and formation of diamonds at the PT conditions of transition zone and lower mantle.
Abstract: It is known that carbon melts at temperatures around 4000 K or higher, and, therefore, this will be for the first time, when liquid carbon state formation preserved within diamond is documented in a carbon-carbonate system at the PT-conditions around 8.0 GPa and 2000 K, that is essentially far from the carbon diagram liquid field, so the newly reported liquid carbon was formed by neither fusion nor condensation. Based on a preponderance of such a strong circumstantial evidence, as morphological features of globular glass-like carbon inclusions within the globular-textured host diamond crystals resulting from liquid segregation process under synthesis conditions, it is suggested, that the produced carbon state has general properties of liquid and is formed through agglomeration alongside with diffusion process of carbon within carbonate melt solvent, and, thus, can potentially open a novel route for liquid carbon production and manufacturing of advanced high-refractory alloys and high-temperature compounds at lower than commonly accepted standard temperatures. A new model of diamond formation via metastable liquid carbon is presented.
Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Physics ** IN ENG, Vol. 80, 1, pp. 74-77.
South America, Brazil
Diamond formation
Abstract: Luminescence kinetics in the temperature range of 80 480 K and the red region of the spectrum is studied for Brazilian diamonds. Components with decay time constants of 23 and 83 ns are observed at room temperature after being excited by laser radiation with wavelengths of 375 and 532 nm, which differs considerably from the data published earlier for the luminescence kinetics of NV 0- and NV -centers.
Abstract: An experimental study on diamond crystallization in CO2-rich sodium-carbonate melts has been undertaken at a pressure of 6.3 GPa in the temperature range of 1250-1570 °C and at 7.5 GPa in the temperature range of 1300-1700 °C. Sodium oxalate (Na2C2O4) was used as the starting material, which over the course of the experiment decomposed to form sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide and elemental carbon. The effects of pressure, temperature and dissolved CO2 in the ultra-alkaline carbonate melt on diamond crystallization, morphology, internal structure and defect-and-impurity content of diamond crystals are established. Diamond growth is found to proceed with formation of vicinal structures on the {100} and {111} faces, resulting eventually in the formation of rounded polyhedrons, whose shape is determined by the combination tetragon-trioctahedron, trigon-trioctahedron and cube faces. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the crystallized diamonds are characterized by specific infrared absorption and photoluminescence spectra. The defects responsible for the 1065 cm? 1 band dominating in the IR spectra and the 566 nm optical system dominating in the PL spectra are tentatively assigned to oxygen impurities in diamond.
Abstract: The redox state of Earth’s convecting mantle, masked by the lithospheric plates and basaltic magmatism of plate tectonics, is a key unknown in the evolutionary history of our planet. Here we report that large, exceptional gem diamonds like the Cullinan, Constellation, and Koh-i-Noor carry direct evidence of crystallization from a redox-sensitive metallic liquid phase in the deep mantle. These sublithospheric diamonds contain inclusions of solidified iron-nickel-carbon-sulfur melt, accompanied by a thin fluid layer of methane ± hydrogen, and sometimes majoritic garnet or former calcium silicate perovskite. The metal-dominated mineral assemblages and reduced volatiles in large gem diamonds indicate formation under metal-saturated conditions. We verify previous predictions that Earth has highly reducing deep mantle regions capable of precipitating a metallic iron phase that contains dissolved carbon and hydrogen.
Abstract: Diamond is an evidence for carbon existing in the deep Earth. Some diamonds are considered to have originated at various depth ranges from the mantle transition zone to the lower mantle. These diamonds are expected to carry significant information about the deep Earth. Here, we determined the phase relations in the MgCO3-SiO2 system up to 152?GPa and 3,100?K using a double sided laser-heated diamond anvil cell combined with in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. MgCO3 transforms from magnesite to the high-pressure polymorph of MgCO3, phase II, above 80?GPa. A reaction between MgCO3 phase II and SiO2 (CaCl2-type SiO2 or seifertite) to form diamond and MgSiO3 (bridgmanite or post-perovsktite) was identified in the deep lower mantle conditions. These observations suggested that the reaction of the MgCO3 phase II with SiO2 causes formation of super-deep diamond in cold slabs descending into the deep lower mantle.
Abstract: Experimental studies of phase relations in the oxide-silicate system MgO-FeO-SiO2 at 24 GPa show that the peritectic reaction of bridgmanite controls the formation of stishovite as a primary in situ mineral of the lower mantle and as an effect of the stishovite paradox. The stishovite paradox is registered in the diamond-forming system MgO-FeO-SiO2-(Mg-Fe-Ca-Na carbonate)-carbon in experiments at 26 GPa as well. The physicochemical mechanisms of the ultrabasic-basic evolution of deep magmas and diamondforming media, as well as their role in the origin of the lower mantle minerals and genesis of ultradeep diamonds, are studied.
Abstract: When hot liquid metal drained towards the core during and shortly after Earth accretion, exceptional conditions may have led to the first global crystallisation of diamond. Newly reported metallic iron trapped in large mantle diamond invites comparison between commercial Fe-Ni-Co “HPHT” diamond growth and natural environments. We evaluate possible conditions for Hadean diamond crystallisation from liquid ironrich metal where thermal and compositional gradients influence diamond crystallization. The solubility of up to 6% carbon has little effect on the phase transitions of the metallic iron phase diagram and carbon generally decreases with increasing pressure in solid iron based on calculated enthalpies. Models for core differentiation provide two scenarios (i) from an accumulated metal “pond” (ii) from massive downward mobile metal diapirs. A refinement arises from a parameterization of self-propagating downward fractures filled by turbulent liquid iron as proposed by Stephenson to send a transponder to the core; negatively buoyant diamond crystals would float. Experiments show that diamond growth under these conditions is fast (~1 carat per hour) and micro-textures of natural diamond with metallic inclusions retain substantial isotopic heterogeneities. We speculate that if the oldest diamond trapped metallic iron on its way to form the core, such “stranded core” might be recognized by trace element compositions, and could retain anomalous isotopic signatures of W and Hf.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: G3, Vol. 18, 7, pp. 2727-2747.
Canada, Somerset Island, Saskatchewan, United States, Kansas
magmatism, convection, diamond genesis
Abstract: Thirty new high-precision U-Pb perovskite and zircon ages from kimberlites in central North America delineate a corridor of mid-Cretaceous (115–92 Ma) magmatism that extends ?4000 km from Somerset Island in Arctic Canada through central Saskatchewan to Kansas, USA. The least contaminated whole rock Sr, Nd, and Hf isotopic data, coupled with Sr isotopic data from groundmass perovskite indicates an exceptionally limited range in Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions, clustering at the low ?Nd end of the OIB array. These isotopic compositions are distinct from other studied North American kimberlites and point to a sublithospheric source region. This mid-Cretaceous kimberlite magmatism cannot be related to mantle plumes associated with the African or Pacific large low-shear wave velocity province (LLSVP). All three kimberlite fields are adjacent to strongly attenuated lithosphere at the edge of the North American craton. This facilitated edge-driven convection, a top-down driven processes that caused decompression melting of the transition zone or overlying asthenosphere. The inversion of ringwoodite and/or wadsleyite and release of H2O, with subsequent metasomatism and synchronous wet partial melting generates a hot CO2 and H2O-rich protokimberlite melt. Emplacement in the crust is controlled by local lithospheric factors; all three kimberlite fields have mid-Cretaceous age, reactivated major deep-seated structures that facilitated kimberlite melt transit through the lithosphere.
Abstract: Magnesite is proposed to be a major oxidized carbon storage phase in the mantle due to its wide P-T range of stability [1-2]. The presence of magnesite in the Earth's interior will depend on the redox state of the Earth's interior. Large part of the deep mantel is considered to be significantly reduced with considerable amount of FeO dispersed in rocks [3]. During slab-mantle interaction, subducted carbonates in the slab will undergo redox reactions with metallic Fe. However, the mechanism of this interaction is not well understood. In order to understand diamond genesis during the slabmantle interactions, we have conducted high-pressure and high-temperature experiments in a 2000-ton multi-anvil highpressure press on samples containing MgCO3 and iron foils (50 ?m thick) in BN capsules. The samples under pressures from 10 to 16 GPa were heated to 1200-1700 K. The samples were quenched under pressure and the quenched samples were polished and then analyzed with multi-wavelength micro-Raman spectrometers using 785, 514.5 and 532 nm laser excitations. Micro-Raman investigations show that the iron foils reduce MgCO3 to various sp2 carbon phases, mainly graphite, followed by the transformation to diamond upon long-duration heating. The transformation to diamond is driven by the temperature. For example, in the Run number PL066 with staring material containing magnesite and two Fe foils heated to 1400 K at 10 GPa for 24 hrs, and quenched, the run products were [Mg,Fe]O, and diamond and graphite. The sample PL044 with staring material containing magnesite and three Fe foils heated to 1600 K at 14 GPa for 12 hrs, the run products were larger size (~10 ?m) diamonds, iron carbide and small amount of graphite. Our results indicate that in slow subduction (T~1500 K) all carbonates will be converted in diamond and iron carbide. Under rapid subduction of the slab, the carbonate will survive and be carried to greater depth. The inclusions of [Mg,Fe]O in diamonds, however, do not necessarily indicate that this phase is of lower mantle origin.
Abstract: A model based on a thermodynamic framework for CO2 concentrations and speciation in natural silicate melts at graphite/diamond-saturated to fluid-saturated conditions is presented. The model is simultaneously calibrated with graphite-saturated and fluid-saturated conditions allowing for consistent model predictions across the CCO buffer. The model was calibrated using water-poor (?1?wt% H2O) silicate melts from graphite- to CO2-fluid-saturation over a range of pressure (P?=?0.05-3?GPa), temperature (T?=?950-1600?°C), composition (foidite-rhyolite; NBO?=?0.02-0.92; wt% SiO2?~?39-77, TiO2?~?0.1-5.8, Al2O3?~?7.5-18, FeO?~?0.2-24 MgO?~?0.1-24, CaO?~?0.3-14, Na2O~1-5, K2O?~?0-6), and fO2 (~QFM +1.5 to ~QFM ?6). The model can predict CO2 concentrations for a wide range of silicate melt compositions from ultramafic to rhyolitic compositions, i.e., melts that dissolve carbon only as carbonate anions CO32- and those that dissolve carbon both as CO32- and as molecular CO2mol as a function of pressure, temperature, and oxygen fugacity. The model also does a reasonable job in capturing CO2 solubility in hydrous silicate melts with ?2-3?wt% H2O. New CO2 solubility experiments at pressures >3?GPa suggest that the newly developed CO2 solubility model can be satisfactorily extrapolated to ~4-5?GPa. Above 5?GPa the model poorly reproduces experimental data, likely owing to structural change in silicate melt at pressures above 5?GPa. An Excel spreadsheet and a Matlab function are provided as online supplementary materials for implementing the new CO2 solubility model presented here.
Gems & Gemology, Sixth International Gemological Symposium Vol. 54, 3, 1p. Abstract p. 270.
Global
diamond genesis
Abstract: For the past 50 years, the majority of diamond research has focused on diamonds derived from the lithospheric mantle root underpinning ancient continents. While lithospheric diamonds are currently thought to form the mainstay of the world’s economic production, the continental mantle lithosphere reservoir comprises only ~2.5% of the total volume of Earth. Earth’s upper mantle and transition zone, extending from beneath the lithosphere to a depth of 670 km, occupy a volume approximately 10 times larger. Diamonds from these deeper parts of the earth—“superdeep diamonds”—are more abundant than previously thought. They appear to dominate the high-value large diamond population that comes to market. Recent measurements of the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of superdeep diamonds from Brazil and southern Africa, using in situ ion probe techniques, show that they document the deep recycling of volatile elements (C, N, O) from the surface of the earth to great depths, at least as deep as the uppermost lower mantle. The recycled crust signatures in these superdeep diamonds suggest their formation in regions of subducting oceanic plates, either in the convecting upper mantle or the transition zone plus lower mantle. It is likely that the deep subduction processes involved in forming these diamonds also transport surficial hydrogen into the deep mantle. This notion is supported by the observation of a high-pressure olivine polymorph—ringwoodite—with close to saturation levels of water. Hence, superdeep diamonds document a newly recognized, voluminous “diamond factory” in the deep earth, likely producing diamonds right up to the present day. Such diamonds also provide uniquely powerful views of how crustal material is recycled into the deep earth to replenish the mantle’s inventory of volatile elements. The increasing recognition of superdeep diamonds in terms of their contribution to the diamond economy opens new horizons in diamond exploration. Models are heavily influenced by the search for diamonds associated with highly depleted peridotite (dunites and harzburgites). Such harzburgitic diamonds were formed in the Archean eon (>2.5 Ga) within lithospheric mantle of similar age. It is currently unclear what the association is between these ancient lithospheric diamonds and large, high-value diamonds, but it is likely a weak one. In contrast, the strong association between superdeep diamonds and these larger stones opens up a new paradigm because the available age constraints for superdeep diamonds indicate that they are much younger than the ancient lithospheric diamonds. Their younger age means that superdeep diamonds may be formed in non-Archean mantle, or mantle that has been strongly overprinted by post-Archean events that would otherwise be deemed unfavorable for the preservation of ancient lithospheric diamonds. An additional factor in the search for new diamond deposits is the increasing recognition that major diamond deposits can form in lithospheric mantle that is younger than—or experienced major thermal disruption since—the canonical 2.5 billion years usually thought to be most favorable for diamond production. This talk will explore these new dimensions in terms of the potential for discovering new diamond sources in “unconventional” settings.
Abstract: Carbon is one of the most important elements on our planet, which led the Geological Society of London to name 2019 the Year of Carbon. Diamonds are a main host for carbon in the deep earth and also have a deeper origin than all other gemstones. Whereas ruby, sapphire, and emerald form in the earth’s crust, diamonds form many hundreds of kilometers deep in the earth’s mantle. Colored gemstones tell scientists about the crust; gem diamonds tell scientists about the mantle. This makes diamonds unique among gemstones: Not only do they have great beauty, but they can also help scientists understand carbon processes deep in the earth. Indeed, diamonds are some of the only direct samples we have of the earth’s mantle. But how do diamonds grow in the mantle? While Hollywood’s depiction of Superman squeezing coal captured the public’s imagination, in reality this does not work. Coal is a crustal compound and is not found at mantle pressures. Also, we now know that diamond does not prefer to form through direct conversion of solid carbon, even though the pressure and temperature conditions under which diamond forms have traditionally been studied experimentally as the reaction of graphite to diamond. Generally, two conditions are needed for diamond formation:?Carbon must be present in a mantle fluid or melt in sufficient quantity, and the melt or fluid must become reduced enough so that oxygen does not combine with carbon (see below). But do diamonds all grow by the same mechanism? What does their origin reveal about their growth medium and their mantle host rock? Surprisingly, diamonds do not all form in the same way, but rather they form in various environments and through varying mechanisms. Through decades of study, we now understand that diamonds such as the rare blue Hope, the large colorless Cullinan, and the more common yellow “cape” diamonds all have very different origins within the deep earth.
Abstract: Super-deep diamonds (SDDs) are those that form at depths between ?300 and ?1000 km in Earth’s mantle. They compose only 1% of the entire diamond population but play a pivotal role in geology, as they represent the deepest direct samples from the interior of our planet. Ferropericlase, (Mg,Fe)O, is the most abundant mineral found as inclusions in SDDs and, when associated with low-Ni enstatite, which is interpreted as retrogressed bridgmanite, is considered proof of a lower-mantle origin. As this mineral association in diamond is very rare, the depth of formation of most ferropericlase inclusions remains uncertain. Here we report geobarometric estimates based on both elasticity and elastoplasticity theories for two ferropericlase inclusions, not associated with enstatite, from a single Brazilian diamond. We obtained a minimum depth of entrapment of 15.7 (±2.5) GPa at 1830 (±45) K (?450 [±70] km depth), placing the origin of the diamond-inclusion pairs at least near the upper mantle-transition zone boundary and confirming their super-deep origin. Our analytical approach can be applied to any type of mineral inclusion in diamond and is expected to allow better insights into the depth distribution and origin of SDDs.
Abstract: Real-time tracking during diamond anvil cell experiments indicates reaction rates may control the unusual depth distribution of the extremely rare diamonds that form deep within Earth’s mantle.
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, 4, pp. 1984-1992.
Mantle
diamond genesis
Abstract: Superdeep diamonds originate from great depths inside Earth, carrying samples from inaccessible mantle to the surface. The reaction between carbonate and iron may be an important mechanism to form diamond through interactions between subducting slabs and surrounding mantle. Interestingly, most superdeep diamonds formed in two narrow zones, at 250-450 and 600-800 km depths within the ~2,700?km?deep mantle. No satisfactory hypothesis explains these preferred depths of diamond formation. We measured the rate of a diamond forming reaction between magnesite and iron. Our data show that high temperature promotes the reaction, while high pressure does the opposite. Particularly, the reaction slows down drastically at about 475(±55) km depth, which may explain the rarity of diamond formation below 450 km depth. The only exception is the second zone at 600-800 km, where carbonate accumulates and warms up due to the stagnation of subducting slabs at the top of lower mantle, providing more reactants and higher temperature for diamond formation. Our study demonstrates that the depth distribution of superdeep diamonds may be controlled by reaction rates.
Abstract: Experimental study, dedicated to understanding the effect of S-rich reduced fluids on the diamond-forming processes under subduction settings, was performed using a multi-anvil high-pressure split-sphere apparatus in Fe3C-(Mg,Ca)CO3-S and Fe0-(Mg,Ca)CO3-S systems at the pressure of 6.3?GPa, temperatures in the range of 900-1600?°C and run time of 18-60?h. At the temperatures of 900 and 1000?°C in the carbide-carbonate-sulfur system, extraction of carbon from cohenite through the interaction with S-rich reduced fluid, as well as C0-producing redox reactions of carbonate with carbide were realized. As a result, graphite formation in assemblage with magnesiowüstite, cohenite and pyrrhotite (±aragonite) was established. At higher temperatures (?1100?°C) formation of assemblage of Fe3+-magnesiowüstite and graphite was accompanied by generation of fO2-contrasting melts - metal-sulfide with dissolved carbon (Fe-S-C) and sulfide-oxide (Fe-S-O). In the temperature range of 1400-1600?°C spontaneous diamond nucleation was found to occur via redox interactions of carbide or iron with carbonate. It was established, that interactions of Fe-S-C and Fe-S-O melts as well as of Fe-S-C melt and magnesiowüstite, were ?0-forming processes, accompanied by disproportionation of Fe. These resulted in the crystallization of Fe3+-magnesiowüstite+graphite assemblage and growth of diamond. We show that a participation of sulfur in subduction-related elemental carbon-forming processes results in sharp decrease of partial melting temperatures (~300?°C), reducting the reactivity of the Fe-S-C melt relatively to FeC melt with respect to graphite and diamond crystallization and decrease of diamond growth rate.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 255, pp. 69-87.
Mantle
diamond genesis
Abstract: Eclogites play a significant role in geodynamic processes, transferring large amounts of basaltic material and volatiles (chiefly CO2 and H2O species) into the earth's mantle via subduction. Previous studies of eclogite melting focused on two end member systems: either carbonated or hydrous eclogites. Here we focus on the hydrous carbonated eclogitic system in order to define the position of its solidus and determine the near solidus fluid and melt compositions at 4-6?GPa and 900-1200?°C. Experiments were performed on a rocking multi-anvil press. The total dissolved solids in the equilibrated fluids were analyzed following the cryogenic technique using a LA-ICP-MS. H2O and CO2 content were determined by mass balance calculations. Solid phases were chemically characterized using an EPMA. Garnet and clinopyroxene are present in all experiments, assembling the eclogitic rock. A carbonate phase was detected at all temperatures at 4?GPa and at temperatures below 1200?°C at 5 and 6?GPa. Coesite was observed at all pressures below 1200?°C. The solidus was crossed between 1000 and 1100?°C at 4 and 5?GPa. At 6?GPa we observed a relatively smooth decrease in the H2O and CO2 content of the fluid phase with rising temperature, suggesting the presence of a supercritical fluid. The second critical endpoint is thus defined in this system at ?5.5?GPa and 1050?°C. The composition of fluids and melts reported in this study indicates that the hydrous carbonated eclogite system is a plausible source-rock for high density fluids (HDFs) found in microinclusions in diamonds, specifically for the intermediate compositions along the array spanned between low-Mg carbonatitic HDFs and hydrous-silicic ones. Our results suggest that the whole array reflects melting in a heterogeneous mantle. Melting of water-rich eclogite produces silicic HDFs, carbonate-rich zones will produce carbonatitc HDFs, while source-rocks with varying H2O/CO2 ratios produce intermediate compositions.
Abstract: Although traditionally considered the realm of igneous petrologists and geochemists, kimberlites have received attention from physical volcanologists interested in how they are emplaced in the crust and how they can erupt. This presentation will review the evidence for the volcaniclastic (i.e. fragmental) nature of kimberlites from examples in Canada's Northwest Territories and in Pennsylvania. A growing body of evidence indicates that kimberlite magmas are gas-dominated (overwhelmingly CO2) suspensions of molten kimberlite liquid and crystals, usually olivines. The olivines, like other mineral phases and xenoliths, are entrained from the surrounding mantle peridotite wall-rock, rather than crystallized from the meager kimberlite liquid, and are, therefore, overwhelmingly xenocrystic. This crystal and rock fragment load is sampled and mechanically processed by a turbulent gas-jet before being immersed in a bath of kimberlite liquid: this is the kimberlite factory. As the gas-charged crack-tip propagates and ascends, new mantle is processed into the kimberlite factory. Each emplacement event records the passage of a kimberlite factory through the mantle and lithosphere. The Masontown kimberlite in Pennsylvania is a solitary hypabyssal kimberlite dyke but it preserves evidence of the passage of a single kimberlite factory. Although many kimberlites stall in the crust, many erupt explosively to produce indisputably volcaniclastic kimberlite lithofacies associated with diatremes. Open-pit mining of several diatremes in Canada reveals the complex temporal-spatial nature of different emplacement events within the same volcanic field, and the ubiquitous presence of hypabyssal kimberlite dykes that fed or attempted to feed explosive eruptions. Such explosive eruptions sustained tephra plumes that produced kimberlite fall deposits and pyroclastic density currents that produced kimberlite ignimbrites; both of which exited their source diatremes and inundated the surrounding landscape.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 520, pp. 164-174.
Mantle
diamond genesis
Abstract: To better understand the role of sulfide in C storage in the upper mantle, we construct a thermodynamic model for Fe-Ni-S-C sulfide melts and consider equilibrium between sulfide melts, mantle silicates, Fe-Ni alloy, and diamond. The sulfide melt model is based upon previous parameterization of Fe-Ni-S melts calibrated at 100 kPa, which we have extended to high pressure based on volumetric properties of end-member components. We calculate the behavior of C in the sulfide melt from empirical parameterization of experimental C solubility data. We calculate the continuous compositional evolution of Fe-Ni sulfide liquid and associated effects on carbon storage at pressure and redox conditions corresponding to mantle depths of 60 to 410 km. Equilibrium and mass balance conditions were solved for coexisting Fe-Ni-S melt and silicate minerals (olivine [(Mg,Fe,Ni)2SiO4], pyroxene [(Mg,Fe)SiO3]) in a mantle with 200 ppmw S. With increasing depth and decreasing oxygen fugacity (fO2), the calculated melt (Fe+Ni)/S atomic ratio increases from 0.8-1.5 in the shallow oxidized mantle to 2.0-10.5 in the reduced deep upper mantle (>8 GPa), with Fe-Ni alloy saturation occurring at >10 GPa. Compared to previous calculations for the reduced deep upper mantle, alloy saturation occurs at greater depth owing to the capacity of sulfide melt to dissolve metal species, thereby attenuating the rise of Fe and Ni metal activities. The corresponding carbon storage capacity in the metal-rich sulfide liquid rises from negligible below 6 GPa to 8-20 ppmw at 9 GPa, and thence increases sharply to 90-110 ppmw at the point of alloy saturation at 10-12 GPa. The combined C storage capacity of liquid and solid alloy reaches 110-170 ppmw at 14 GPa. Thus, in the deep upper mantle, all carbon in depleted sources (10-30 ppmw C) can be stored in the sulfide liquid, and alloy and sulfide liquids host a significant fraction of the C in enriched sources (30-500 ppmw C). Application of these results to the occurrences of inferred metal-rich sulfide melts in the Fe-Ni-S-C system and inclusions in diamonds from the mantle transition zone suggests that oxidization of a reduced metal-rich sulfide melt is an efficient mechanism for deep-mantle diamond precipitation, owing to the strong effect of (Fe+Ni)/S ratio on carbon solubility in Fe-Ni-S melts. This redox reaction likely occurs near the boundary between oxidized subducted slabs and the reduced ambient peridotitic mantle.
Abstract: Melt inclusions in kimberlitic and metamorphic diamonds worldwide range in composition from potassic aluminosilicate to alkali-rich carbonatitic and their low-temperature derivative, a saline high-density fluid (HDF). The discovery of CO2 inclusions in diamonds containing eclogitic minerals are also essential. These melts and HDFs may be responsible for diamond formation and metasomatic alteration of mantle rocks since the late Archean to Phanerozoic. Although a genetic link between these melts and fluids was suggested, their origin is still highly uncertain. Here we present experimental results on melting phase relations in a carbonated pelite at 6?GPa and 900-1500?°C. We found that just below solidus K2O enters potassium feldspar or K2TiSi3O9 wadeite coexisting with clinopyroxene, garnet, kyanite, coesite, and dolomite. The potassium phases react with dolomite to produce garnet, kyanite, coesite, and potassic dolomitic melt, 40(K0.90Na0.10)2CO3•60Ca0.55Mg0.24Fe0.21CO3?+?1.9?mol% SiO2?+?0.7?mol% TiO2?+?1.4?mol% Al2O3 at the solidus established near 1000?°C. Molecular CO2 liberates at 1100?°C. Potassic aluminosilicate melt appears in addition to carbonatite melt at 1200?°C. This melt contains (mol/wt%): SiO2?=?57.0/52.4, TiO2?=?1.8/2.3, Al2O3?=?8.5/13.0, FeO?=?1.4/1.6, MgO?=?1.9/1.2, CaO?=?3.8/3.2, Na2O?=?3.2/3.0, K2O?=?10.5/15.2, CO2?=?12.0/8.0, while carbonatite melt can be approximated as 24(K0.81Na0.19)2CO3•76Ca0.59Mg0.21Fe0.20CO3?+?3.0?mol% SiO2?+?1.6?mol% TiO2?+?1.4?mol% Al2O3. Both melts remain stable to at least 1500?°C coexisting with CO2 fluid and residual eclogite assemblage consisting of K-rich omphacite (0.4-1.5?wt% K2O), almandine-pyrope-grossular garnet, kyanite, and coesite. The obtained immiscible alkali?carbonatitic and potassic aluminosilicate melts resemble compositions of melt inclusions in diamonds worldwide. Thus, these melts entrapped by diamonds could be derived by partial melting of the carbonated material of the continental crust subducted down to 180-200?km depths. Given the high solubility of chlorides and water in both carbonate and aluminosilicate melts inferred in previous experiments, the saline end-member, brine, could evolve from potassic carbonatitic and/or silicic melts by fractionation of Ca-Mg carbonates/eclogitic minerals and accumulation of alkalis, chlorine and water in the residual low-temperature supercritical fluid. Direct extraction from the hydrated marine sediments under conditions of cold subduction would be another possibility for the brine formation.
International Symposium on Deep Earth Exploration and Practices, Beijing Oct. 24-26. 1 p. abstract
China
diamond genesis
Abstract: Diamonds have been discovered in mantle peridotites and chromitites of six ophiolitic massifs along the 1300 km?long Yarlung?Zangbo suture (Bai et al., 1993; Yang et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2015), and in the Dongqiao and Dingqing mantle peridotites of the Bangong?Nujiang suture in the eastern Tethyan zone (Robinson et al., 2004; Xiong et al., 2018). Recently, in?situ diamond, coesite and other UHP mineral have also been reported in the Nidar ophiolite of the western Yarlung?Zangbo suture (Das et al., 2015, 2017). The above?mentioned diamond?bearing ophiolites represent remnants of the eastern Mesozoic Tethyan oceanic lithosphere. New publications show that diamonds also occur in chromitites in the Pozanti?Karsanti ophiolite of Turkey, and in the Mirdita ophiolite of Albania in the western Tethyan zone (Lian et al., 2017; Xiong et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2018). Similar diamonds and associated minerals have also reported from Paleozoic ophiolitic chromitites of Central Asian Orogenic Belt of China and the Ray?Iz ophiolite in the Polar Urals, Russia (Yang et al., 2015a, b; Tian et al., 2015; Huang et al, 2015). Importantly, in?situ diamonds have been recovered in chromitites of both the Luobusa ophiolite in Tbet and the Ray?Iz ophiolite in Russia (Yang et al., 2014, 2015a). The extensive occurrences of such ultra?high pressure (UHP) minerals in many ophiolites suggest formation by similar geological events in different oceans and orogenic belts of different ages. Compared to diamonds from kimberlites and UHP metamorphic belts, micro?diamonds from ophiolites present a new occurrence of diamond that requires significantly different physical and chemical conditions of formation in Earth's mantle. The forms of chromite and qingsongites (BN) indicate that ophiolitic chromitite may form at depths of >150?380 km or even deeper in the mantle (Yang et al., 2007; Dobrthinetskaya et al., 2009). The very light C isotope composition (?13C ?18 to ?28‰) of these ophiolitic diamonds and their Mn?bearing mineral inclusions, as well as coesite and clinopyroxene lamallae in chromite grains all indicate recycling of ancient continental or oceanic crustal materials into the deep mantle (>300 km) or down to the mantle transition zone via subduction (Yang et al., 2014, 2015a; Robinson et al., 2015; Moe et al., 2018). These new observations and new data strongly suggest that micro?diamonds and their host podiform chromitite may have formed near the transition zone in the deep mantle, and that they were then transported upward into shallow mantle depths by convection processes. The in?situ occurrence of micro?diamonds has been well?demonstrated by different groups of international researchers, along with other UHP minerals in podiform chromitites and ophiolitic peridotites clearly indicate their deep mantle origin and effectively address questions of possible contamination during sample processing and analytical work. The widespread occurrence of ophiolite?hosted diamonds and associated UHP mineral groups suggests that they may be a common feature of in?situ oceanic mantle. The fundamental scientific question to address here is how and where these micro?diamonds and UHP minerals first crystallized, how they were incorporated into ophiolitic chromitites and peridotites and how they were preserved during transport to the surface. Thus, diamonds and UHP minerals in ophiolites have raised new scientific problems and opened a new window for geologists to study recycling from crust to deep mantle and back to the surface.
Abstract: Although traditionally considered the realm of igneous petrologists and geochemists, kimberlites have received attention from physical volcanologists interested in how they are emplaced in the crust and how they can erupt. This presentation will review the evidence for the volcaniclastic (i.e. fragmental) nature of kimberlites from examples in Canada's Northwest Territories and in Pennsylvania. A growing body of evidence indicates that kimberlite magmas are gas-dominated (overwhelmingly CO2) suspensions of molten kimberlite liquid and crystals, usually olivines. The olivines, like other mineral phases and xenoliths, are entrained from the surrounding mantle peridotite wall-rock, rather than crystallized from the meager kimberlite liquid, and are, therefore, overwhelmingly xenocrystic. This crystal and rock fragment load is sampled and mechanically processed by a turbulent gas-jet before being immersed in a bath of kimberlite liquid: this is the kimberlite factory. As the gas-charged crack-tip propagates and ascends, new mantle is processed into the kimberlite factory. Each emplacement event records the passage of a kimberlite factory through the mantle and lithosphere. The Masontown kimberlite in Pennsylvania is a solitary hypabyssal kimberlite dyke but it preserves evidence of the passage of a single kimberlite factory. Although many kimberlites stall in the crust, many erupt explosively to produce indisputably volcaniclastic kimberlite lithofacies associated with diatremes. Open-pit mining of several diatremes in Canada reveals the complex temporal-spatial nature of different emplacement events within the same volcanic field, and the ubiquitous presence of hypabyssal kimberlite dykes that fed or attempted to feed explosive eruptions. Such explosive eruptions sustained tephra plumes that produced kimberlite fall deposits and pyroclastic density currents that produced kimberlite ignimbrites; both of which exited their source diatremes and inundated the surrounding landscape.
Journal of the Geological Society of India, Vol. 94, 2, pp. 188-196.
India
diamond genesis
Abstract: The Bundelkhand craton is surrounded by different mobile belts. The central Indian tectonic zone (CITZ) in the southern part is one of the prominent tectonic zones. CITZ is an important structural controlling factor for the Majhgawan and Hinota Kimberlite pipes. Several dyke swarms and quartz vein fractures are resulted due to volcanic and tectonic activity in the present study area. The objective of the present study is to delineate the subsurface lineaments using different edge enhancement techniques for mineral exploration in the future. Initially, First vertical derivative (FVD), total horizontal derivative (THD), tilt derivative (TDR) and theta (THETA) map have been applied to EIGEN6C4 Bouguer anomaly data. Composite lineament density map has been generated using all enhanced maps to analyze the effect of length of lineaments in the unit area. Upward continuation maps for different height have been generated to distinguish the shallower and deeper body effects. Further, Euler 3D deconvolution technique has been applied to Bouguer anomaly data to calculate the possible depth of associated lineaments. A comparative analysis of upward continuation depth and Euler’s depth has been carried out zone wise.
Abstract: Melt inclusions in kimberlitic and metamorphic diamonds worldwide range in composition from potassic aluminosilicate to alkali-rich carbonatitic and their low-temperature derivative, a saline high-density fluid (HDF). The discovery of CO2 inclusions in diamonds containing eclogitic minerals are also essential. These melts and HDFs may be responsible for diamond formation and metasomatic alteration of mantle rocks since the late Archean to Phanerozoic. Although a genetic link between these melts and fluids was suggested, their origin is still highly uncertain. Here we present experimental results on melting phase relations in a carbonated pelite at 6?GPa and 900-1500?°C. We found that just below solidus K2O enters potassium feldspar or K2TiSi3O9 wadeite coexisting with clinopyroxene, garnet, kyanite, coesite, and dolomite. The potassium phases react with dolomite to produce garnet, kyanite, coesite, and potassic dolomitic melt, 40(K0.90Na0.10)2CO3•60Ca0.55Mg0.24Fe0.21CO3?+?1.9?mol% SiO2?+?0.7?mol% TiO2?+?1.4?mol% Al2O3 at the solidus established near 1000?°C. Molecular CO2 liberates at 1100?°C. Potassic aluminosilicate melt appears in addition to carbonatite melt at 1200?°C. This melt contains (mol/wt%): SiO2?=?57.0/52.4, TiO2?=?1.8/2.3, Al2O3?=?8.5/13.0, FeO?=?1.4/1.6, MgO?=?1.9/1.2, CaO?=?3.8/3.2, Na2O?=?3.2/3.0, K2O?=?10.5/15.2, CO2?=?12.0/8.0, while carbonatite melt can be approximated as 24(K0.81Na0.19)2CO3•76Ca0.59Mg0.21Fe0.20CO3?+?3.0?mol% SiO2?+?1.6?mol% TiO2?+?1.4?mol% Al2O3. Both melts remain stable to at least 1500?°C coexisting with CO2 fluid and residual eclogite assemblage consisting of K-rich omphacite (0.4-1.5?wt% K2O), almandine-pyrope-grossular garnet, kyanite, and coesite. The obtained immiscible alkali?carbonatitic and potassic aluminosilicate melts resemble compositions of melt inclusions in diamonds worldwide. Thus, these melts entrapped by diamonds could be derived by partial melting of the carbonated material of the continental crust subducted down to 180-200?km depths. Given the high solubility of chlorides and water in both carbonate and aluminosilicate melts inferred in previous experiments, the saline end-member, brine, could evolve from potassic carbonatitic and/or silicic melts by fractionation of Ca-Mg carbonates/eclogitic minerals and accumulation of alkalis, chlorine and water in the residual low-temperature supercritical fluid. Direct extraction from the hydrated marine sediments under conditions of cold subduction would be another possibility for the brine formation.
Abstract: Isotope compositions of basalts provide information about the chemical reservoirs in Earth’s interior and play a critical role in defining models of Earth’s structure. However, the helium isotope signature of the mantle below depths of a few hundred kilometers has been difficult to measure directly. This information is a vital baseline for understanding helium isotopes in erupted basalts. We measured He-Sr-Pb isotope ratios in superdeep diamond fluid inclusions from the transition zone (depth of 410 to 660 kilometers) unaffected by degassing and shallow crustal contamination. We found extreme He-C-Pb-Sr isotope variability, with high 3He/4He ratios related to higher helium concentrations. This indicates that a less degassed, high-3He/4He deep mantle source infiltrates the transition zone, where it interacts with recycled material, creating the diverse compositions recorded in ocean island basalts.
Abstract: Still today, diamond growth in the mantle is difficult to understand. It may implicate different processes but there is an agreement to involve fluids as diamonds parents. The composition of these fluids is supposed to be variable depending of the the settings and depths. Natural diamonds also exhibit dissolution features, possibly mantle-derived and not only due to kimberlite-induced resorption during magma ascent [1]. We present experimental results devoted to understand diamond growth versus dissolution mechanisms in the lithosphere. Experiments are performed using multianvil presses at 7 GPa, 1300-1675°C for a few hours (4 to 27 hrs). As starting materials we use mixtures of water, carbonates, natural lherzolite or MORB, graphite and diamonds seeds resulting in hydrous-carbonate-silicate fluids at high pressure and temperature. For similar pressure and temperature conditions, results show that diamonds are formed or dissolved in these fluids, depending on the redox conditions. Focussed ion beam preparations of the diamonds evidence that when they grow, they trap multi-phased inclusions similar to those observed in fibrous, coated and monocrystalline natural diamonds, in agreement with previous studies [2-4].
Abstract: Kimberlites are volcanic rocks that derive from deep in Earth’s mantle, but the nature of their source is uncertain. A study of this source’s evolution over two billion years provides valuable information about its properties.
Geochemistry International, Vol. 57, 9, pp. 1000-1007.
Mantle
diamond genesis
Abstract: The peritectic reaction of ringwoodite (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 and silicate-carbonate melt with formation of magnesiowustite (Fe,Mg)O, stishovite SiO2, and Mg, Na, Ca, K-carbonates is revealed by experimental study at 20 GPa of phase relations in the multicomponent diamond-forming MgO-FeO-SiO2-Na2CO3-CaCO3-K2CO3 system of the Earth mantle transition zone. An interaction of CaCO3 and SiO2 with a formation of Ca-perovskite CaSiO3 is also detected. It is shown that the peritectic reaction of ringwoodite and melt with the formation of stishovite controls physicochemically the fractional ultrabasic-basic evolution of both magmatic and diamond-forming systems of deep horizons of the transition zone up to its boundary with the Earth lower mantle.
Abstract: High pressure experimental studies investigating the petrogenesis of kimberlites have focussed on the effects of CO2 and/or H2O on deep, partial melting of peridotite, or on locating the point of multiple saturation of peridotite phases on the liquidus of putative “primary” kimberlite melts in pressure-temperature space. These studies have failed to reach consensus regarding the source mineralogy or the pressure-temperature conditions of partial melting. An alternative hypothesis is that precursor melts to Group I kimberlites formed under conditions too reducing for carbonate stability, around the iron-wüstite (IW) buffer in the asthenospheric mantle below the cratonic lithosphere. The few experimental constraints on the nature of partial melts produced under these conditions suggest they are hydrous, highly olivine-normative and may contain a small dissolved carbonate component; they are not yet kimberlites at this early stage. Kimberlites have sampled large vertical sections of the cratonic lithospheric mantle in many locations, as garnet peridotite xenoliths. Studies of these xenoliths show that the cratonic mantle decreases in oxygen fugacity (ƒO2) with depth, reaching values ? IW near the base of the lithosphere at 6-7 GPa. However, many deep samples were metasomatically enriched and oxidised to ƒO2 values at which carbonate phases are stable [1,2]. Metasomatism in the deep cratonic mantle may also lead to enrichment in K2O, CaO, CO2 and H2O as modal metasomatic phases such as carbonates, phlogopite and clinopyroxene [3]. The asthenosphere-derived, reduced precursor melts to kimberlites may segregate from their source region and interact with this metasomatised lithosphere, dissolving these metasomatic components and evolving to high K/Na, CaO, CO2 and H2O-rich melts, which on modification during transport to the surface, may erupt as kimberlites.
Abstract: The widely accepted paradigm of Earth's geochemical evolution states that the successive extraction of melts from the mantle over the past 4.5 billion years formed the continental crust, and produced at least one complementary melt-depleted reservoir that is now recognized as the upper-mantle source of mid-ocean-ridge basalts1. However, geochemical modelling and the occurrence of high 3He/4He (that is, primordial) signatures in some volcanic rocks suggest that volumes of relatively undifferentiated mantle may reside in deeper, isolated regions2. Some basalts from large igneous provinces may provide temporally restricted glimpses of the most primitive parts of the mantle3,4, but key questions regarding the longevity of such sources on planetary timescales—and whether any survive today—remain unresolved. Kimberlites, small-volume volcanic rocks that are the source of most diamonds, offer rare insights into aspects of the composition of the Earth’s deep mantle. The radiogenic isotope ratios of kimberlites of different ages enable us to map the evolution of this domain through time. Here we show that globally distributed kimberlites originate from a single homogeneous reservoir with an isotopic composition that is indicative of a uniform and pristine mantle source, which evolved in isolation over at least 2.5 billion years of Earth history—to our knowledge, the only such reservoir that has been identified to date. Around 200 million years ago, extensive volumes of the same source were perturbed, probably as a result of contamination by exogenic material. The distribution of affected kimberlites suggests that this event may be related to subduction along the margin of the Pangaea supercontinent. These results reveal a long-lived and globally extensive mantle reservoir that underwent subsequent disruption, possibly heralding a marked change to large-scale mantle-mixing regimes. These processes may explain why uncontaminated primordial mantle is so difficult to identify in recent mantle-derived melts.
Abstract:
“Super-deep” diamonds are thought to have a sub-lithospheric origin (i.e., below ~300 km depth) because some of the mineral phases entrapped within them as inclusions are considered to be the products of retrograde transformation from lower-mantle or transition-zone precursors. CaSiO3-walstromite, the most abundant Ca-bearing mineral inclusion found in super-deep diamonds, is believed to derive from CaSiO3-perovskite, which is stable only below ~600 km depth, although its real depth of origin is controversial. The remnant pressure (Pinc) retained by an inclusion, combined with the thermoelastic parameters of the mineral inclusion and the diamond host, allows calculation of the entrapment pressure of the diamond-inclusion pair. Raman spectroscopy, together with X-ray diffraction, is the most commonly used method for measuring the Pinc without damaging the diamond host. In the present study we provide, for the first time, a calibration curve to determine the Pinc of a CaSiO3-walstromite inclusion by means of Raman spectroscopy without breaking the diamond. To do so, we performed high-pressure micro-Raman investigations on a CaSiO3-walstromite crystal under hydrostatic stress conditions within a diamond-anvil cell. We additionally calculated the Raman spectrum of CaSiO3-walstromite by ab initio methods both under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic stress conditions to avoid misinterpretation of the results caused by the possible presence of deviatoric stresses causing anomalous shift of CaSiO3-walstromite Raman peaks. Last, we applied single-inclusion elastic barometry to estimate the minimum entrapment pressure of a CaSiO3-walstromite inclusion trapped in a natural diamond, which is ~9 GPa (~260 km) at 1800 K. These results suggest that the diamond investigated is certainly sub-lithospheric and endorse the hypothesis that the presence of CaSiO3-walstromite is a strong indication of super-deep origin.
Abstract: Hypabyssal kimberlites are subvolcanic intrusive rocks crystallised from mantle-derived magmas poor in SiO2 and rich in CO2 and H2O. They are complex, hybrid rocks containing significant amounts of mantle-derived fragments, primarily olivine with rare diamonds, set in a matrix of essentially magmatic origin. Unambiguous identification of kimberlites requires careful petrographic examination combined with mineral compositional analyses. Melt inclusion studies have shown that kimberlite melts contain higher alkali concentrations than previously thought but have not clarified the ultimate origin of these melts. Because of the hybrid nature of kimberlites and their common hydrothermal alteration by fluids of controversial origin (magmatic and/or crustal), the composition of primary kimberlite melts remains unknown.
Abstract: The recently recognised Sask Craton, a small terrane with Archean (3.3-2.5 Ga) crustal ages, is enclosed in the Paleoproterozoic (1.9-1.8 Ga) Trans Hudson Orogen (THO). Only limited research has been conducted on this craton, yet it hosts major diamond deposits within the Cretaceous (~106 to ~95 Ma) Fort à la Corne (FALC) Kimberlite Field. This study describes major, trace and platinum group element data, as well as osmium isotopic data from peridotitic mantle xenoliths (n = 26) from the Star and Orion South kimberlites. The garnet-bearing lithospheric mantle is dominated by moderately depleted lherzolite. Equilibration pressures and temperatures (2.7 to 5.5 GPa and 840 to 1250 °C) for these garnet peridotites define a cool geotherm indicative of a 210 km thick lithosphere, similar to other cratons worldwide. Many of the peridotite xenoliths show the major and trace element signatures of carbonatitic and kimberlitic melt metasomatism. The Re-Os isotopic data yield TRD (time of Re-depletion) model ages, which provide minimum estimates for the timing of melt depletion, ranging from 2.4 to 0.3 Ga, with a main mode spanning from 2.4 to 1.7 Ga. No Archean ages were recorded. This finding and the complex nature of events affecting this terrane from the Archean through the Palaeoproterozoic provide evidence that the majority of the lithospheric mantle was depleted and stabilised in the Palaeoproterozoic, significantly later than the Archean crust. The timing of the dominant lithosphere formation is linked to rifting (~2.2 Ga - 2.0 Ga), and subsequent collision (1.9-1.8 Ga) of the Superior and Hearne craton during the Wilson cycle of the Trans Hudson Orogen.
Abstract: Diamond is commonly regarded as an indicator of ultra-high pressure conditions in Earth System Science. This canonical view is challenged by recent data and interpretations that suggest metastable growth of diamond in low pressure environments. One such environment is serpentinisation of oceanic lithosphere, which produces highly reduced CH4-bearing fluids after olivine alteration by reaction with infiltrating fluids. Here we report the first ever observed in situ diamond within olivine-hosted, CH4-rich fluid inclusions from low pressure oceanic gabbro and chromitite samples from the Moa-Baracoa ophiolitic massif, eastern Cuba. Diamond is encapsulated in voids below the polished mineral surface forming a typical serpentinisation array, with methane, serpentine and magnetite, providing definitive evidence for its metastable growth upon low temperature and low pressure alteration of oceanic lithosphere and super-reduction of infiltrated fluids. Thermodynamic modelling of the observed solid and fluid assemblage at a reference P-T point appropriate for serpentinisation (350 °C and 100 MPa) is consistent with extreme reduction of the fluid to logfO2 (MPa) = ?45.3 (?logfO2[Iron-Magnetite] = ?6.5). These findings imply that the formation of metastable diamond at low pressure in serpentinised olivine is a widespread process in modern and ancient oceanic lithosphere, questioning a generalised ultra-high pressure origin for ophiolitic diamond.
Abstract: The presence of diamonds in an outcrop atop an unrealized gold deposit in Canada's Far North mirrors the association found above the world's richest gold mine, according to University of Alberta research that fills in blanks about the thermal conditions of Earth's crust three billion years ago.
Abstract: The first results on diamond growth in the Fe-?-S system with 1 wt % S (relative to Fe) at 6 GPa and 1450°C have been reported. The diamonds obtained contain about 30 ppm N, on average, and belong to the low-N transition diamond group Ib-IIa. It has been suggested that the reduction conditions formed by certain active elements such as S can play an important role in the formation of natural low-N diamonds.
https://www.youtube. com/channel/ UCcZvayDnqD DazIHAh1Otreg, Nov 3 ppt presenation ( see also her paper in Nature previously listed in Newsletter)
Mantle
diamond genesis. Cratons
Abstract: November 2020 Vancouver Kimberlite Cluster presentation. 'Superdeep' diamonds from the sublithospheric mantle (greater than 250 km in depth) comprise some of the most highly-priced samples in kimberlitic diamond deposits. These superdeep diamonds are distinguished from their more common lithospheric diamonds cousins by their large sizes, highly resorbed morphologies, and characteristic inclusion assemblages. Despite these defining characteristics, our understanding of superdeep diamond formation remains limited. How exactly does diamond formation differ between the upper and lower mantle? In this presentation, I will discuss how stable isotopic analyses of lithospheric to lower mantle diamonds can elucidate the various diamond forming mechanisms that operate at these depths. I will show evidence for diamond-forming carbonate-rich magmas in the transition zone and will illustrate how the final dehydration of slabs may remobilize carbon trapped in metallic phases in the lower mantle.
GIAcommunications @gia.edu, gia.org and knowledge sessions
Global
diamond genesis
Abstract: G&G’s most recent issue captured the past, present and future of the gem industry - with an overview of European royal jewelry sales (including the sale of Marie Antoinette’s jewelry), in-depth coverage of D-Z diamond knowledge (such as causes of color and formation) and a journey into Vietnamese pearl farming. Tune in as G&G contributors Troy Ardon and Nicole Ahline touch upon these and other highlights from the most recent publication of GIA’s prestigious scientific journal.
Carnegie Institute Lecture April 29, 6.30 pm est, Please click this URL to join.
Global
diamond genesis
Abstract: Finding and evaluating diamond deposits is one of the hardest tasks in mineral resource development. In this talk, we will delve a little into the techniques used to find diamonds and how to evaluate the deposits. We will then examine why diamonds-the deepest derived of all natural materials—are unique in their ability to illuminate processes taking place over 700 km beneath Earth's surface, and up to 3.5 billion years back into its history. Click to register for Upcoming April 29, 2021 Webinar.
Abstract: Finding and evaluating diamond deposits is one of the hardest tasks in mineral resource development. In this talk, we will delve a little into the techniques used to find diamonds and how to evaluate the deposits. We will then examine why diamonds-the deepest derived of all natural materials-are unique in their ability to illuminate processes taking place over 700 km beneath Earth's surface, and up to 3.5 billion years back into its history.
PNAS, Vol. 118, no. 23, doi.org/10.1073/pnas .e2020680118 8p. Pdf
Mantle
deep source, genesis
Abstract: Globally distributed kimberlites with broadly chondritic initial 143Nd-176Hf isotopic systematics may be derived from a chemically homogenous, relatively primitive mantle source that remained isolated from the convecting mantle for much of the Earth’s history. To assess whether this putative reservoir may have preserved remnants of an early Earth process, we report 182W/184W and 142Nd/144Nd data for "primitive" kimberlites from 10 localities worldwide, ranging in age from 1,153 to 89 Ma. Most are characterized by homogeneous ?182W and ?142Nd values averaging ?5.9 ± 3.6 ppm (2SD, n = 13) and +2.7 ± 2.9 ppm (2SD, n = 6), respectively. The remarkably uniform yet modestly negative ?182W values, coupled with chondritic to slightly suprachondritic initial 143Nd/144Nd and 176Hf/177Hf ratios over a span of nearly 1,000 Mya, provides permissive evidence that these kimberlites were derived from one or more long-lived, early formed mantle reservoirs. Possible causes for negative ?182W values among these kimberlites include the transfer of W with low ?182W from the core to the mantle source reservoir(s), creation of the source reservoir(s) as a result of early silicate fractionation, or an overabundance of late-accreted materials in the source reservoir(s). By contrast, two younger kimberlites emplaced at 72 and 52 Ma and characterized by distinctly subchondritic initial 176Hf/177Hf and 143Nd/144Nd have ?182W values consistent with the modern upper mantle. These isotopic compositions may reflect contamination of the ancient kimberlite source by recycled crustal components with ?182W ? 0.
Abstract: Rare oceanic diamonds are believed to have a mantle transition zone origin like super-deep continental diamonds. However, oceanic diamonds have a homogeneous and organic-like light carbon isotope signature (?13C ? 28 to ? 20‰) instead of the extremely variable organic to lithospheric mantle signature of super-deep continental diamonds (?13C ? 25‰ to?+?3.5‰). Here, we show that with rare exceptions, oceanic diamonds and the isotopically lighter cores of super-deep continental diamonds share a common organic ?13C composition reflecting carbon brought down to the transition zone by subduction, whereas the rims of such super-deep continental diamonds have the same ?13C as peridotitic diamonds from the lithospheric mantle. Like lithospheric continental diamonds, almost all the known occurrences of oceanic diamonds are linked to plume-induced large igneous provinces or ocean islands, suggesting a common connection to mantle plumes. We argue that mantle plumes bring the transition zone diamonds to shallower levels, where only those emplaced at the base of the continental lithosphere might grow rims with lithospheric mantle carbon isotope signatures.
Abstract: Recently it was found that large natural diamonds can grow from a metal liquid. One of the principal issues of the proposed hypothesis is the formation of so-called “pockets” filled with Fe-Ni melt and hydrocarbons in the Earth's mantle. The existing models of Fe migration imply percolation of liquid melt through interconnected interstices between silicate minerals, although these models face several fundamental problems in explaining the process of penetration of Fe melt between solid crystalline phases like silicate and oxide minerals. The aim of the present study is to contribute to the mechanism of Fe-Ni melt migration, and to elucidate the evolution of the "pockets" in the presence of hydrocarbons. The experiments were performed using a high-pressure apparatus "BARS" at pressures 3 and 5?GPa, and temperature 1600?°C. A silicate matrix consisting of natural olivine grains was used. The interstices in olivine were filled with anthracene that decomposes under high P-T into a complex hydrocarbon fluid. Percolation of Fe-Ni (64/36?wt%) melt through the interstices was demonstrated which occurred at relatively high rates. The basis of the proposed mechanism is "solubility-enhanced infiltration": Fe-Ni occupies the space filled with light elements or substances that are soluble in the melt. It is suggested that the following simple, but efficient mechanism supports the growth of large diamonds as well as their resorption and storage within silicate mantle of the Earth for a long time.
Abstract: Rare oceanic diamonds are believed to have a mantle transition zone origin like super-deep continental diamonds. However, oceanic diamonds have a homogeneous and organic-like light carbon isotope signature (?13C ? 28 to ? 20‰) instead of the extremely variable organic to lithospheric mantle signature of super-deep continental diamonds (?13C ? 25‰ to?+?3.5‰). Here, we show that with rare exceptions, oceanic diamonds and the isotopically lighter cores of super-deep continental diamonds share a common organic ?13C composition reflecting carbon brought down to the transition zone by subduction, whereas the rims of such super-deep continental diamonds have the same ?13C as peridotitic diamonds from the lithospheric mantle. Like lithospheric continental diamonds, almost all the known occurrences of oceanic diamonds are linked to plume-induced large igneous provinces or ocean islands, suggesting a common connection to mantle plumes. We argue that mantle plumes bring the transition zone diamonds to shallower levels, where only those emplaced at the base of the continental lithosphere might grow rims with lithospheric mantle carbon isotope signatures.
Abstract: Do you know your diamond’s origin? Join GIA Research Scientist Dr. Evan Smith and GIA Global Business Development Director Matt Tratner as they explain why diamond origin is important in today's marketplace, some of the challenges that exist in identifying a diamond's country of origin, and how GIA uses the scientific matching process to confirm a diamond's origin.
Abstract: Carbonatitic high-density fluids and carbonate mineral inclusions in lithospheric and sub-lithospheric diamonds reveal comparable compositions to crustal carbonatites and, thus, support the presence of carbon-atitic melts to depths of at least the mantle transition zone (~410-660 km depth). Diamonds and high pressure-high temperature (HP-HT) experiments confirm the stability of lower mantle carbonates. Experiments also show that carbonate melts have extremely low viscosity in the upper mantle. Hence, carbonatitic melts may participate in the deep (mantle) carbon cycle and be highly effective metasomatic agents. Deep carbon in the upper mantle can be mobilized by metasomatic carbonatitic melts, which may have become increasingly volumetrically significant since the onset of carbonate subduction (~3 Ga) to the present day.
Geochemistry International, Vol. 59, 11, pp.993-1007. pdf
Global
diamond genesis
Abstract: The best-known, most well-studied diamondiferous rocks are kimberlites and lamproites. Diamonds are also found in impactites, metamorphic rocks, ophiolites, and modern volcanic rocks. Diamonds from these rocks differ from kimberlitic diamonds in size, morphology, trace-element and isotope composition, and physical properties. Differences in these characteristics are related to their different mechanisms of origin. In some cases, diamonds can be formed in “metastable” conditions under disequilibrium thermodynamic parameters, supporting the conclusion that diamond is a polygenetic mineral, formed in nature under different physicochemical and geodynamic conditions. According to thermodynamic considerations and calculations, “metastable” crystallization of diamond is mainly controlled by the size of the forming crystallites. The main effectors in decreasing the energetic barrier for nanosized diamonds are surface tension and related surface energy.