Hello Guest User, You are visiting this website from a computer with an IP address of 172.71.222.212 with the name of '?' since Thu Mar 28, 2024 at 4:41:58 PM PT for approx. 0 minutes now.
The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Technical, Media and Corporate Articles based on Major Region - Wyoming
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 Region 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 addition most references have been tagged with one or more region words. In an effort to make it easier for users to track down articles related to a specific region, KRO has extracted these region words and developed a list of major region words presented in the Major Region Index to which individual region words used in the article reference have been assigned. Each individual Region Report contains in chronological order all the references with a region word associated with the Major Region word. Depending on the total for each reference type - technical, media and corporate - the references will be either in their own technical, media or corporate Region Report, or combined in a single report. Where there is a significant number of technical references there will be a technical report dedicated to the technical articles while the media and corporate references are combined in a separate region report. References that were added in the most recent monthly update are highlighted in yellow within the Region Report. The Major Region words have been defined by a scale system of "general", "continent", "country", "state or province" and "regional". Major Region words at the smaller scales have been created only when there are enough references to make isolating them worthwhile. References not tagged with a Region are excluded, and articles with a region word not matched with a Major Region show up in the "Unknown" report.
Kimberlite - diamondiferous
Lamproite - diamondiferous
Lamprophyre - diamondiferous
Other - diamondiferous
Kimberlite - non diamondiferous
Lamproite - non diamondiferous
Lamprophyre - non diamondiferous
Other - non diamondiferous
Kimberlite - unknown
Lamproite - unknown
Lamprophyre - unknown
Other - unknown
Future Mine
Current Mine
Former Mine
Click on icon for details about each occurrence. Works best with Google Chrome.
CITATION: Faure, S, 2010, World Kimberlites CONSOREM Database (Version 3), Consortium de Recherche en Exploration Minérale CONSOREM, Université du Québec à Montréal, Numerical Database on consorem.ca. NOTE: This publicly available database results of a compilation of other public databases, scientific and governmental publications and maps, and various data from exploration companies reports or Web sites, If you notice errors, have additional kimberlite localizations that should be included in this database, or have any comments and suggestions, please contact the author specifying the ID of the kimberlite: [email protected]
The Browns Peak Formation and its Relationship to the Late Tertiary Geologic History of the Elkhead Region, Northwestern Colorado and South Central Wyoming.
Ph.d. Thesis, University California At Berkeley, 175P.
Detrital Minerals of Mantle Origin in the Green River Basin, Wyoming.
Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME)-American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME)., SYMPOSIUM OUTLINE FALL MEETING DENVER OCTOBER 24TH. P. 13. (
Fluorine and Chlorine Contents of Phlogopites Crystallized from ultrapotassic Rock Compositions in High Pressure Experiments- Implications for halogen Reservoirs in Source Regions.
American MINERALOGIST., Vol. 70, No. 5-6, PP. 529-536.
Canada, Ontario, United States, State Line, Wyoming, Leucite Hills, Uganda
Phanerozoic igneous rocks, including kimberlites of the United States craton west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and east of the Rocky Mountains and their associated
7th. IAGOD Symposium abstract volume, Held August 18-22, Lulea Sweden, pp. 407-408. (abstract.)
Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota
The occurrence and significance of xenocrysts of apatite, ilmenite and Sodium, iron, Titanium oxide in ultrapotassic lavas from the Leucite Hills, Wyoming
Mineralogical Magazine, Vol. 51, No. 360 pt. 2, Pp. 265-270
Brief notation : field and laboratory investigations of potentially Diamond bearing kimberlites and other rocks.. ongoing -more than 100 possible pipesrecogniz
Geological Survey of Wyoming, 56th. Annual Report, Notation as title -full, p. 11. Brief as above in title
Temporal distribution of the ultramafic-alkalic and alkalic rocks withIn the Russian, Siberian and North American ancient platforms and theirsurroundings
Geological Survey of Wyoming Open File Report, No. 89-9, 33p
State Activities brief overview: Wyoming continued to search for kimberlite satellite minerals in Archean craton of the Laramie Mountains of southeastern WyoM.
Identification of 2.0 to 2.4 Ga neodymium model age crustal material of the Cheyenne belt, southeast Wyoming: implications Prot. accretionary tectonics s margin Of the Wyoming cra
Identification of 2.0 to 2.4 Ga neodymium model age crustal material in the Cheyenne belt, southeastern Wyoming: implications for Proterozoic accretionary tectonics athe so
New uranium-lead (U-Pb) (U-Pb) geochronological and thermobarometric constraints on Proterozoic tectonic processes along the southeast margin of the Wyoming craton
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstract Volume, Vol. 23, No. 5, San Diego, p. A 59
Distribution of fluorine between minerals and glass in lamproites, lamprophyres and kamafugites: implications for the role of F in deep mantle derived magmas
Proceedings of Fifth International Kimberlite Conference held Araxa June 1991, Servico Geologico do Brasil (CPRM) Special, pp. 79-81
Preliminary results of new Cocorp deep seismic reflection profiling across the intracratonic Williston Basin and underlying early Proterozoic Trans-HudsonOrogen
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstract Volume, Vol. 23, No. 5, San Diego, p. A 315
Application of simple paramagnetic susceptibility to rapid discrimination of ilmenite compositions in exploration for kimberlite in the Colorado-WyomingProvince, United States
Proceedings of Fifth International Kimberlite Conference held Araxa June 1991, Servico Geologico do Brasil (CPRM) Special, pp. 443-445
Diamondiferous kimberlite at Kelsey Lake, southern Wyoming ArcheanProvince
Mid-continent diamonds Geological Association of Canada (GAC)-Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) Symposium ABSTRACT volume, held Edmonton May, pp. 85-88
Rates of hornblende etching in soils in glacial deposits of the northern Rocky Mountains (Wyoming-Montana); United States (US): influence of climate/parent
Chemical Geology, Vol. 105, pp. 17-29
Wyoming, Montana
Geomorphology, Wind River Range, Tobacco Root Range
Geotectonic controls of primary diamond deposits: implications for diamond exploration models and Archean tectonics
Mid-continent diamonds Geological Association of Canada (GAC)-Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) Symposium ABSTRACT volume, held Edmonton May, pp. 7-10
New stratigraphic subdivisions and redefinition of late Archean and early Proterzoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the Sierra Madre and Medicine Bow Moun
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Paper, No. P 1520, 50p. $ 4.00
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
Contrasting lower crustal evolution across an Archean Proterozoic suture: physical, chemical and geochronologic studies of lower crustal xenoliths in southern Wyoming
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Oct. 27-30, Abstract p. 252.
Upper mantle tomographic VP and VS images of the Middle Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico: evidence for a thick heterogeneous chemical lithosphere
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Oct. 27-30, Abstract p. 473.
Contrasting lower crustal evolution across an Archean Proterozoic suture: physical, chemical and geochronologic studies of lower crustal xenoliths in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado.
American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph, No. 154, pp. 139-162.
Upper mantle tomographic Vp and Vs images of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico: evidence for a thick heterogeneous chemical lithosphere.
American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph, No. 154, pp. 329-346.
Proterozoic evolution of the western margin of the Wyoming Craton: implications for the tectonic and magmatic evolution of the northern Rocky Mountains.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 43, 10, pp. 1601-1619,
Geochemistry of crustal xenoliths from the Hatcher Mesa lamproite, Wyoming, USA: insights into the composition of the deep crust and upper mantle beneath the Wyoming craton.
Kilian, T.M., Bleeker, W., Chamberlain. K., Evans, D.A.D., Cousens, B.
Paleomagnetism, geochronology and geochemistry of the Paleoproterozoic Rabbit Creek and Powder River dyke swarms: implications for Wyoming in supercraton Superia.
Geological Society of London Special Publication Supercontinent Cycles through Earth History., Vol. 424, pp. 15-45.
Abstract: Structural, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), and paleomagnetic data record patterns of layer-parallel shortening (LPS), vertical-axis rotation, and regional fault-fold evolution across the Sweetwater Arch, a major west to WNW trending, basement-cored Laramide uplift in Wyoming. The southern arch flank is bounded by a WNW striking reverse fault zone that imbricated basement and cover rocks, the northern flank is bounded by a west striking fault zone with a component of strike-slip and NW trending en echelon folds, and the eastern plunge transitions into an area of multiple-trending faults and folds. Synorogenic strata record major arch uplift from Maastrichtian to Early Eocene time, followed by arch collapse. LPS, with development of systematic minor fault sets and AMS lineations, preceded large-scale folding. LPS directions, estimated from both minor fault and AMS data, were oriented WSW along the northern flank, subparallel to Laramide regional shortening, but were refracted to the SSW along the southern flank, and to the west along the eastern arch plunge. Additional minor faults developed along steep fold limbs during continued shortening, with directions remaining SSW along the southern flank but becoming more variable along the eastern plunge where an increasingly heterogeneous stress field developed as additional faults were activated along basement heterogeneities. Vertical-axis rotation was limited along the arch flanks, whereas the eastern plunge underwent counterclockwise rotation. Deflections in shortening directions were partly related to basement heterogeneities, including weak supracrustal belts on the arch flanks, a strong granitic core, and local reactivation of Precambrian shear zones.
Abstract: Rare earth mineralization in the Bear Lodge alkaline complex (BLAC) is mainly associated with an anastomosing network of carbonatite dikes and veins, and their oxidized equivalents. Bear Lodge carbonatites are LREE-dominant, with some peripheral zones enriched in HREEs. We describe the unique chemistry and mineralogy one such peripheral zone, the Cole HFSE(+HREE) Occurrence (CHO), located ~2 km from the main carbonatite intrusions. The CHO consists of anatase, xenotime-(Y), brockite, fluorite, zircon, and K-feldspar, and contains up to 44.88% TiO2, 3.12% Nb2O5, 6.52% Y2O3, 0.80% Dy2O3, 2.63% ThO2, 6.0% P2O5, and 3.73% F. Electron microprobe analyses of xenotime-(Y) overgrowths on zircon show that oscillatory zoning is a result of variable Th and Ca content. Cheralite-type substitution, whereby Th and Ca are incorporated at the expense of REEs, is predominant over the more commonly observed thorite-type substitution in xenotime-(Y). Th/Ca-rich domains are highly beam sensitive and accompanied by high-F concentrations and low-microprobe oxide totals, suggesting cheralite-type substitution is more easily accommodated in fluorinated and hydrated/hydroxylated xenotime-(Y). Analyses of xenotime-(Y) and brockite show evidence of Embedded Image substitution for Embedded Image with patches of an undefined Ca-Th-Y-Ln phosphovanadate solid-solution composition within brockite clusters. Fluorite from the CHO is HREE-enriched with an average Y/Ho ratio of 33.2, while other generations of fluorite throughout the BLAC are LREE-enriched with Y/Ho ratios of 58.6-102.5. HFSE(+HREE) mineralization occurs at the interface between alkaline silicate intrusions and the first outward occurrence of calcareous Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, which may be local sources of P, Ti, V, Zr, and Y. U-Pb zircon ages determined by LA-ICP-MS reveal two definitive 207Pb/206Pb populations at 2.60-2.75 and 1.83-1.88 Ga, consistent with derivation from adjacent sandstones and Archean granite. Therefore, Zr and Hf are concentrated by a physical process independent of the Ti/Nb-enriched fluid composition responsible for anatase crystallization. The CHO exemplifies the extreme fluid compositions possible after protracted LREE-rich crystal fractionation and subsequent fluid exsolution in carbonatite-fluid systems. We suggest that the anatase+xenotime-(Y)+brockite+fluorite assemblage precipitated from highly fractionated, low-temperature (<200 °C), F-rich fluids temporally related to carbonatite emplacement, but after significant fractionation of ancylite and Ca-REE fluorocarbonates. Low-temperature aqueous conditions are supported by the presence of fine-grained anatase as the sole Ti-oxide mineral, concentrically banded botryoidal fluorite textures, and presumed hydration of phosphate minerals. Fluid interaction with Ca-rich lithologies is known to initiate fluorite crystallization which may cause destabilization of (HREE,Ti,Nb)-fluoride complexes and precipitation of REE+Th phosphates and Nb-anatase, a model valuable to the exploration for economic concentrations of HREEs, Ti, and Nb.
Abstract: Paleoproterozoic suture zones mark the formation of supercontinent Nuna and provide a record of North America's assembly. Conspicuously young ages (ca. 1.715 Ga) associated with deformation in southeast Wyoming craton argue for a more protracted consolidation of Laurentia, long after peak metamorphism in the Trans-Hudson orogen. Using paleomagnetic data from the newly dated 1899 ± 5 Ma Sourdough mafic dike swarm (Wyoming craton), we compare the relative positions of Wyoming, Superior, and Slave cratons before, during, and after peak metamorphism in the Trans-Hudson orogen. With these constraints, we refine a collisional model for Laurentia that incorporates Wyoming craton after Superior and Slave cratons united, redefining the Paleoproterozoic sutures that bind southern Laurentia.
Abstract: Cratons are old and strong continental cores where the lithosphere is thick and remains largely undeformed for 2-3 b.y. Unlike typical cratons, the Wyoming craton underwent pervasive deformation ca. 80-55 Ma during the Laramide orogeny in the west-central United States, and has been subsequently encroached upon by the Yellowstone hotspot since 2.0 Ma. However, the mechanism for the deformation and the craton-hotspot interaction are not well understood. We present here a three-dimensional shear wave velocity model beneath the Wyoming craton constrained from Rayleigh wave data, which reveal new details about the cratonic lithosphere. The average lithosphere thickness beneath the craton is ?150 km, significantly thinner than a normal cratonic root (>200 km). Continuous low velocities are observed beneath the Yellowstone hotspot and the Cheyenne belt. A low-velocity column is also present in the central-eastern craton at depths of 115-250 km. These low velocities can be explained by hot temperature and partial melting, implying mantle upwelling. A high-velocity anomaly with a dripping shape in central Wyoming extends to 200-250 km depth, indicating mantle downwelling and lithosphere erosion. Our model provides the first seismic evidence for complex small-scale mantle convection beneath the Wyoming craton. The convection probably developed during the subduction of the Farallon plate and has been reinforced by the Yellowstone hotspot. We propose that the combination of flat-slab subduction, small-scale convection, and hotspot activity can lead to massive destruction of a cratonic lithosphere.
Examination of diamond stability phase mantle indicator minerals from Leucite Hills, Sweetwater County, Wyoming and Crater of Diamonds State Park, Pike Count, Arkansas.
Geological Society of America, Vol. 48, 3, 1p. Abstract
Abstract: Casper College undergraduate students investigated the feasibility of finding hidden kimberlite pipes by means of geological mapping, geophysics, and stream sediment sampling. The Precambrian Laramie Mountains of southeastern Wyoming, locally known as the Iron Mountain Kimberlite district, was chosen based on previous work conducted by the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS), geology of the region, and known kimberlite pipes. Data was collected using micro gravimeter - Scintrex CG-5, magnetometer - G-858 MagMapper, and electrical resistivity - SuperSting R8/IP/SP. Target one was chosen while pre-mapping the area and a topographic bowl like depression was identified. Micro gravimeter data was collected on a 56m transect at 8m intervals. Magnetometer data was collected in an area of 122m by 92m running in a 8m parallel array. Electrical resistivity was collected along a 56m transect at 8m intervals. Target two was chosen because the WSGS identified a regional magnetic anomaly and follow-up research was needed. Microgravimeter data was collected on a 56m transect at 8m intervals. Magnetometer data was collected from an area of 122m by 92m running in an 8m parallel array. Electrical resistivity was collected along a 56m transect at 8m intervals. Two drill site locations were selected based on the geophysical results to prove kimberlite is present at depth. Sediment samples were taken along Middle Sybille Creek and yielded a variety of pink to very deep red and purple colored garnets which have been sent in for EPMA (electron probe micro analyses) testing to determine the garnet-spinel compositions. Once complete the geochemical analyses will help determine if either target has a greater potential to be a diamondiferous kimberlite pipe.
Abstract: Zoned crystals of carbocernaite occur in hydrothermally reworked burbankite-fluorapatite-bearing calcite carbonatite at Bear Lodge, Wyoming. The mineral is paragenetically associated with pyrite, strontianite, barite, ancylite-(Ce), and late-stage calcite, and is interpreted to have precipitated from sulfate-bearing fluids derived from an external source and enriched in Na, Ca, Sr, Ba, and rare-earth elements (REE) through dissolution of the primary calcite and burbankite. The crystals of carbocernaite show a complex juxtaposition of core-rim, sectoral, and oscillatory zoning patterns arising from significant variations in the content of all major cations, which can be expressed by the empirical formula (Ca0.43–0.91Sr0.40–0.69REE0.18–0.59Na0.18–0.53Ba0–0.08)?1.96–2.00(CO3)2. Interelement correlations indicate that the examined crystals can be viewed as a solid solution between two hypothetical end-members, CaSr(CO3)2 and NaREE(CO3)2, with the most Na-REE-rich areas in pyramidal (morphologically speaking) growth sectors representing a probable new mineral species. Although the Bear Lodge carbocernaite is consistently enriched in light REE relative to heavy REE and Y (chondrite-normalized La/Er = 500–4200), the pyramidal sectors exhibit a greater degree of fractionation between these two groups of elements relative to their associated prismatic sectors. A sample approaching the solid-solution midline [(Ca0.57Na0.42)?0.99(Sr0.50REE0.47Ba0.01)?0.98(CO3)2] was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and shown to have a monoclinic symmetry [space group P11m, a = 6.434(4), b = 7.266(5), c = 5.220(3) Å, ? = 89.979(17)°, Z = 2] as opposed to the orthorhombic symmetry (space group Pb21m) proposed in earlier studies. The symmetry reduction is due to partial cation order in sevenfold-coordinated sites occupied predominantly by Ca and Na, and in tenfold-coordinated sites hosting Sr, REE, and Ba. The ordering also causes splitting of carbonate vibrational modes at 690–740 and 1080–1100 cm?1 in Raman spectra. Using Raman micro-spectroscopy, carbocernaite can be readily distinguished from burbankite- and ancylite-group carbonates characterized by similar energy-dispersive spectra.
Abstract: The Eocene (ca. 55–38 Ma) Bear Lodge alkaline complex in the northern Black Hills region of northeastern Wyoming (USA) is host to stockwork-style carbonatite dikes and veins with high concentrations of rare earth elements (e.g., La: 4140–21000 ppm, Ce: 9220–35800 ppm, Nd: 4800–13900 ppm). The central carbonatite dike swarm is characterized by zones of variable REE content, with peripheral zones enriched in HREE including yttrium. The principle REE-bearing phases in unoxidized carbonatite are ancylite and carbocernaite, with subordinate monazite, fluorapatite, burbankite, and Ca-REE fluorocarbonates. In oxidized carbonatite, REE are hosted primarily by Ca-REE fluorocarbonates (bastnäsite, parisite, synchysite, and mixed varieties), with lesser REE phosphates (rhabdophane and monazite), fluorapatite, and cerianite. REE abundances were substantially upgraded (e.g., La: 54500–66800 ppm, Ce: 11500–92100 ppm, Nd: 4740–31200 ppm) in carbonatite that was altered by oxidizing hydrothermal and supergene processes. Vertical, near surface increases in REE concentrations correlate with replacement of REE(±Sr,Ca,Na,Ba) carbonate minerals by Ca-REE fluorocarbonate minerals, dissolution of matrix calcite, development of Fe- and Mn-rich gossan, crystallization of cerianite and accompanying negative Ce anomalies in secondary fluorocarbonates and phosphates, and increasing ?18O values. These vertical changes demonstrate the importance of oxidizing meteoric water during the most recent modifications to the carbonatite stockwork. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalysis were used to investigate variations in mineral chemistry controlling the lateral complex-wide geochemical heterogeneity. HREE-enrichment in some peripheral zones can be attributed to an increase in the abundance of secondary REE phosphates (rhabdophane group, monazite, and fluorapatite), while HREE-enrichment in other zones is a result of HREE substitution in the otherwise LREE-selective fluorocarbonate minerals. Microprobe analyses show that HREE substitution is most pronounced in Ca-rich fluorocarbonates (parisite, synchysite, and mixed syntaxial varieties). Peripheral, late-stage HREE-enrichment is attributed to: 1) fractionation during early crystallization of LREE selective minerals, such as ancylite, carbocernaite, and Ca-REE fluorocarbonates in the central Bull Hill dike swarm, 2) REE liberated during breakdown of primary calcite and apatite with higher HREE/LREE ratios, and 3) differential transport of REE in fluids with higher PO43?/CO32? and F?/CO32? ratios, leading to phosphate and pseudomorphic fluorocarbonate mineralization. Supergene weathering processes were important at the stratigraphically highest peripheral REE occurrence, which consists of fine, acicular monazite, jarosite, rutile/pseudorutile, barite, and plumbopyrochlore, an assemblage mineralogically similar to carbonatite laterites in tropical regions.
Abstract: Lamproites are commonly found in post-collisional or intracontinental environments and characterized by unique elemental and radiogenic isotopic signatures that signify derivation from the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. An improved understanding on their genesis is important regarding the dynamics of the Earth’s mantle lithosphere, and requires knowledge in identifying source components and magmatic processes. In order to better constrain the mechanism producing the geochemical diversity of lamproites, we measure the elemental and Mg isotopic compositions of a suite of lamproites from the well-known locality Leucite Hills, Wyoming, U.S.A. The two types of lamproites therein, madupitic and phlogopite lamproites, display distinct characteristics in many element and Mg isotope diagrams. These variations cannot be ascribed to crustal contamination, fractional crystallization or source heterogeneity. Instead, the strong correlations between melting-sensitive elemental ratios (e.g., Sm/Yb and La/Yb) and indices of carbonatitic metasomatism (e.g., CaO/Al2O3, Hf/Hf*, and Ti/Ti*) with ?26Mg indicate that variable degrees of partial melting of a common carbonated mantle source have generated the observed geochemical distinctions of the Leucite Hills lamproites. Our study reveals that geochemical variations in a given lamproite suite might have been controlled mainly by the degree of mantle melting.
Abstract: During flat subduction, material is scraped off the base of the continental mantle lithosphere, building a migrating keel. This testable mechanism for flat subduction recreates features of the Laramide orogeny.
Abstract: Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and commercially-available HyMap hyperspectral data were used to study the occurrence and mineralogical characteristics of limberlite diatremes in the State-Line district of Colorado/Wyoming. A mosaic of five flightlines of AVIRIS data acquired during 1996 with 20-m resolution is being used to locate and characterize the kimberlite diatremes. Higher spatial resolution data (1.6 m AVIRIS and 4m HyMap acquired in 1998 and 1999, respectively) are being used to map additional detail. Poor exposures, vegetation cover, and weathering, however, make identification of characteristic kimberlite minerals difficult except where exposed by mining. Minerals identified in the district using the hyperspectral data include calcite, dolomite, illite/muscovite, and serpentine (principally antigorite), however, most spectral signatures are dominated by both green and dry vegetation. The goal of this work is to determine methods for characterizing subtle mineralogic changes associated with kimberlites as a guide to exploration in a variety of geologic terrains.
Earth and Planetary Letters, Vol. 550, 116549, 13p.
Global, United States, Wyoming, Canada, Northwest Territories, Europe, Baltic, India
geothermometry
Abstract: Cratonic lithosphere is believed to have been chemically buoyant and mechanically resistant to destruction over billions of years. Yet the absence of cratonic roots at some Archean terrains casts doubt on the craton stability and longevity on a global scale. As unique mantle-derived melts at ancient continents, silica-poor, kimberlitic melts are ideal tools to constrain the temporal variation of lithosphere thickness and the processes affecting the lithosphere root. However, no reliable thermobarometer exists to date for strongly silica-undersaturated, mantle-derived melts. Here we develop a new thermobarometer for silica-poor, CO2-rich melts using high-temperature, high-pressure experimental data. Our barometer is calibrated based on a new observation of pressure-dependent variation of Al2O3 in partial melts saturated with garnet and olivine, while our thermometer is calibrated based on the well-known olivine-melt Mg-exchange. For applications to natural magmas, we also establish a correction scheme to estimate their primary melt compositions. Applying this liquid-based thermobarometer to the estimated primary melt compositions for a global kimberlite dataset, we show that the equilibration depths between primary kimberlite melts and mantle peridotites indicate a decrease of up to ?150 km in cratonic lithosphere thickness globally during the past ?2 Gyr. Together with the temporal coupling between global kimberlite frequency and cold subduction flux since ?2 Gyr ago, our results imply a causal link between lithosphere thinning and supply of CO2-rich melts enhanced by deep subduction of carbonated oceanic crusts. While hibernating at the lithosphere root, these melts chemically metasomatize and rheologically weaken the rigid lithosphere and consequently facilitate destruction through convective removal in the ambient mantle or thermo-magmatic erosion during mantle plume activities.
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, Vol. 176, 45, 10.1007/s00410-021-01801-9 pdf
United States, Wyoming
deposit - Leucite Hills
Abstract: Cratonic lamproites bear extreme Sr?Nd?Pb isotopic compositions widely known as enriched mantle I (EMI), yet the origin of the EMI reservoir remains controversial. Here, we explore this issue by examining Mg?Sr?Nd?Pb isotopic compositions of lamproites from Leucite Hills, Wyoming, USA. The ?26Mg values vary from the range of the normal mantle to lower values (? 0.43 to ? 0.18 ‰), correlating with indices of the degree of carbonate metasomatism, an observation that can be best explained through mantle metasomatism by subducted carbonate-bearing sediments. With increasing extent of carbonate metasomatism, these samples display less extreme EMI Sr?Nd?Pb isotopic signatures, arguing for at least two metasomatic events that occurred in their mantle sources. The early metasomatic event associated with subducted continent-derived siliciclastic sediments led to the formation of the EMI Sr?Nd?Pb isotopic signatures while the recent carbonate metasomatism produced the light Mg isotopic signature but diluted the EMI Sr?Nd?Pb isotopic signatures. Our study indicates that a combination of Mg and Sr?Nd?Pb isotopes could be an effective tool in deciphering multiple-stage metasomatic events in mantle sources and places new constraints on the generation of enriched mantle reservoirs.
United States, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Canada, Alberta, Saskatchewan
craton
Abstract: Combined observations from natural and experimental deformation microstructures are often used to constrain the rheological properties of the upper mantle. However, relating natural and experimental deformation processes typically requires orders of magnitude extrapolation in strain rate due to vastly different time scales between nature and the lab. We examined a sheared peridotite xenolith that was deformed under strain rates comparable to laboratory shearing time scales. Microstructure analysis using an optical microscope and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was done to characterize the bulk crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO), intragrain misorientations, subgrain boundaries, and spatial distribution of grains. We found that the microstructure varied between monophase (olivine) and multiphase (i.e., olivine, pyroxene, and garnet) bands. Olivine grains in the monophase bands had stronger CPO, larger grain size, and higher internal misorientations compared with olivine grains in the multiphase bands. The bulk olivine CPO suggests a dominant (010)[100] and secondary activated (001)[100] that are consistent with the experimentally observed transition of the A to E-types. The bulk CPO and intragrain misorientations of olivine and orthopyroxene suggest that a coarser-grained initial fabric was deformed by dislocation creep coeval with the reduction of grain size due to dynamic recrystallization. Comparing the deformation mechanisms inferred from the microstructure with experimental flow laws indicates that the reduction of grain size in orthopyroxene promotes activation of diffusion creep and suggests a high activation volume for wet orthopyroxene dislocation creep.
Abstract: Xenoliths play a crucial role in interpretation of mantle deformation and geochemistry. The classic work of Mercier and Nicolas (1975) introduced the concept of the peridotite deformation cycle, which connected observed microstructures to a physical sequence of deformation. We revisit Mercier and Nicolas' original concept, bringing in new constraints using large area EBSD maps and associated microstructural datasets, analysis of water contents in nominally anhydrous minerals, and trace element chemistry of pyroxenes and garnets. We apply these techniques to a well-characterized suite of peridotite xenoliths from the Eocene-age Homestead and Williams kimberlites in the northwestern Wyoming Craton. Pyroxene water content and trace element mineral chemistries reveal ubiquitous hydrous metasomatism beneath the craton, most likely linked to the Cenozoic Laramide Orogeny. Homestead xenoliths primarily exhibit coarse protogranular and equigranular textures, B-type olivine fabrics, and generally elevated mineral water contents compared to Williams. Xenoliths from Williams are strongly deformed, with porphyroclastic and transitional textures containing annealed olivine tablets, mostly A-type olivine fabrics, and generally lower mineral water contents. As a whole, mantle from Homestead to Williams reflects a cratonic scale deformation cycle that likely initiated in Laramide times and lasted until the end of orogeny in the Eocene. At Williams, evidence for a rapid deformation “sub-cycle” within the main deformation cycle is preserved in the tablet-bearing xenoliths, corresponding to the enigmatic “transitional” texture of Mercier and Nicolas (1975). Our results suggest that this texture reflects interruption of the main deformation cycle by processes possibly related to a rapidly forming lithospheric instability and generation of the kimberlite magma - offering a new interpretation of this ambiguous peridotite texture. Collectively, our results incorporate typically disparate geochemical and textural datasets on xenoliths to shed new insights into how metasomatism, volatiles, and deformation are connected in the deep cratonic lithosphere.
Abstract: Bull Hill is a carbonatite diatreme within the Paleogene Bear Lodge Carbonatite Complex in Wyoming, USA. Rare earth element (REE)-bearing carbonate, fluorocarbonate, phosphate, and oxide minerals occur within near-vertical carbonatite dikes on the western margin of Bull Hill. Changes in mineralogy and REE concentrations with depth are ascribed mainly to late-stage magmatic-hydrothermal and supergene alteration. Approximately 35 m of drill core from Bull Hill was analyzed and encompasses least altered, weakly weathered, and moderately weathered carbonatite. The least altered carbonatite contains magmatic burbankite, typically as inclusions within Mn-rich calcite (stage I). Secondary REE-bearing minerals, which pseudomorphically replaced unidentified hexagonal phenocrysts, include ancylite, bastnäsite with synchysite/parisite, and an unidentified Sr-Ca-REE-phosphate (stage II). These replacive minerals generated small amounts of incipient porosity (~7-8%) and are largely stable in the lower portion of the weathering profile. Progressive weathering (stages III and IV) of the carbonatite involved the oxidation of pyrite to iron oxides and iron hydroxides, dissolution of calcite and strontianite, and the replacement of Mn-rich calcite by manganese oxides. These mineralogical changes resulted in an ~40% porosity gain in the core studied here. The volumetric concentration of weathering resistant REE-bearing minerals resulted in REE enrichment from an average of 5.4 wt % in the least weathered carbonatite to an average of 12.6 wt % in moderately weathered carbonatite, and to an overall increase in REE ore tenor of two to three times compared to the least altered carbonatite. Isocon plots confirm the increased concentration of REEs in the weathered carbonatite and demonstrate that REEs, along with TiO2, Ta, Nb, Zr, and Hf, were conserved in the lower weathered zone.