Abstract
We report major, trace and volatile element compositions for seven coated diamonds from Kankan, Guinea. Four diamonds trapped microinclusions with high-Mg carbonatitic high-density fluids (HDFs) and three carry silicic to low-Mg carbonatitic HDFs. Mineral inclusions and nitrogen aggregation in the cores indicate growth at ∼ 5 GPa, 1100-1200 °C. Significant differences in the nitrogen aggregation state (A + B, A and A + C centres in cores, inner coats and rims of three diamonds) indicate growth during multiple events, well separated in time. All diamonds show radial chemical evolution. The HDFs in high-Mg carbonatitic diamonds grow more carbonatitic towards the rim, the silicic one grows more silicic, and the zoned diamonds show contrasting trends in the different parts of the coats. The HDFs are highly enriched in Ba, Th, U and the light REE; enrichment in K, Rb and Cs is somewhat lower. Normalized Sr, Ti and Y concentrations are low relative to the middle and heavy REE. Trace elements in the low-Mg carbonatitic to silicic suite vary systematically with increasing silicic character of the HDFs. The high-Mg HDFs commonly deviate from such arrays. A new model is proposed for the evolution of diamond-forming fluids, suggesting that high-Mg carbonatitic HDFs are formed through interaction of saline HDF with peridotitic rock, while low-Mg silicic to carbonatitic HDFs are the result of penetration of K-rich hydrous fluid into eclogitic rock. Another possible source for the high potassium content of the HDFs is K-bearing phases in the mineral assemblage of the rock. Sinusoidal REE patterns that are common in garnet inclusions in monocrystalline diamonds may form when HDFs with steep REE patterns are introduced into a LREE-depleted harzburgite. Unless garnet and diamond were formed in two separate events, this similarity suggests growth of monocrystalline diamonds from fluids similar to the HDFs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 660-674 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Lithos |
| Volume | 112 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Tamar Shalev, Suzy Elhlou and Norman Pearson for their help with the analyses. Research was funded by BSF grant #2004161 to Oded Navon and ARC Linkage and Discovery grants to S.Y. O'Reilly and W.L. Griffin. Analytical data were obtained using instrumentation funded by ARC LIEF, and DEST Systemic Infrastructure Grants and Macquarie University. Reference minerals were supplied by the Hebrew University Mineral collection. Y.W. thanks support of the Kameron foundation for his travel to GEMOC and his very good friend Arnon E. Brand ( www.bio-graphica.com ) for the graphic solutions and consultations and for a very good time spent together doing so. This is contribution no. 566 from the ARC National Key Centre for the Geochemical Evolution and Metallogeny of Continents ( www.els.mq.edu.au/GEMOC/ ).
Keywords
- Carbonatitic
- High-density fluid (HDF)
- La-ICP-MS
- Saline
- Silicic
- Trace elements
