Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diamond-facies chrome spinel from the Tokapal kimberlite, Indrāvati basin, central India and its petrological significance

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Mineralogy and Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Widespread and abundant spinel is the only primary mineral of petrogenetic significance preserved in the hydrothermally altered, crater-facies, Neoproterozoic (≥620 Ma) Tokapal kimberlite pipe that intruded the Indrāvati basin, Bastar craton, Central India. Two distinct spinel populations occur: (i) finer-grained (<50 μm) microcrysts which are zoned from titaniferous magnesiochromite-chromite to magnetite; and (ii) larger macrocrysts (>400 μm) with cores having distinctly chromium-rich (Cr2O3 up to 63.67 wt%), and TiO2-poor (<0.68 wt%) compositions. Based on their morphology and chemical composition the macrocrysts are inferred to be disaggregated mantle xenocrysts and their compositional range extends well into the diamond stability field. However, the reported absence of diamond and other indicator minerals (such as pyrope garnet, chrome diopside and magnesian ilmenite) in the Tokapal pipe is intriguing since diamondiferous cratonic roots are indeed preserved in the Bastar craton, and also the kimberlite itself was derived from a similar source region(s) as that of the well-known diamondiferous Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1,100 Ma) kimberlites from Wajrakarur, Dharwar craton, southern India. Given the large areal extent (>550 ha) of kimberlite, there is a possibility that it contains diamonds but they were not recovered during the sampling. Alternately, highly oxidising conditions imparted by the metasomatic fluids/melts derived from (i) asthenosphere-lithosphere interaction, or (ii) the kimberlite itself might have played an important role in the destruction of diamond, and other indicator minerals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

References

  • Birkett TC (2008) First-row transition elements, Y and Ga in kimberlite and lamproite: applications to diamond prospectivity and petrogenesis. Can Mineral 46:1269–1282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalapathi Rao NV, Gibson SA, Pyle DM, Dickin AP (2004) Petrogenesis of Proterozoic lamproites and kimberlites from the Cuddapah basin and Dharwar cratons, southern India. J Petrol 45:907–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalapathi Rao NV, Lehmann B, Mainkar D, Belyatsky B (2011a) Petrogenesis of the end-Cretaceous diamondiferous Behradih pipe: implication for mantle plume-lithosphere interaction in the Bastar craton, central India. Contrib Mineral Petrol 161:721–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalapathi Rao NV, Paton C, Lehmann B (2011b) Origin and diamond prospectivity of Mesoproterozoic kimberlites from Narayanpet field, eastern Dharwar craton, southern India: insights from groundmass mineralogy, bulk-chemistry and perovskite oxybarometry. Geol J 47:186–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Federotchouk Y, Canil D (2004) Intensive variables in kimberlite magmas, Lac de Gras, Canada and implications for diamond survival. J Petrol 45:1725–1745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fipke CE (1991) Significance of chromite, ilmenite, G5 Mg-almandine garnet, zircon and tourmaline in heavy mineral detection of diamond bearing lamproites. V International Kimberlite Conference, Brazil. CPRM SpecPubl 2(91):97–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Geological Survey of India (2010) Detailed information dossier on diamond in India. 172p (can be downloaded from website http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in)

  • Griffin WL, Ryan CG, Gurney JJ, Sobolev NV, Win TT (1994) Chromite macrocrysts in kimberlites and lamproites: geochemistry and origin. In: Meyer HOA, Leonardos OH (eds) Proceedings of the Fifth International Kimberlite Conference, Araxa, June 1991. Diamonds: characterization, genesis and exploration. CPRM Special Publication 1B, vol. 2, 366–377

  • Gurney JJ, Moore RO (1993) Geochemical correlations between kimberlitic indicator minerals and diamonds. In: Diamonds: exploration, sampling and evaluation, Short Course Proceedings. Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Toronto, 147–171

  • Gurney JJ, Zweistra P (1995) The interpretation of the major element composition of mantle minerals in diamond exploration. J Geochem Expl 53:293–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggerty SE (1975) The chemistry and genesis of opaque minerals in kimberlites. Phys Chem Earth 9:295–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggerty SE (1995) Upper mantle mineralogy. J Geodyn 20:331–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood CTS, McCandless TE (2004) Systematic variations in xenocryst mineral composition at the province scale, Buffalo Hills kimberlites, Alberta, Canada. Lithos 77:733–747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irvine TN (1965) Chrome spinel as a petrogenetic indicator. Part 1. Theory. Can J Earth Sci 2:648–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminsky FE, Sablukov SM, Belousovaa EA, Andreazza P, Tremblay M, Griffin WL (2010) Kimberlitic sources of super-deep diamonds in the Juina area, Mato Grosso area, Brazil. Lithos 114:16–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Roex AP, Bell DR, Davis P (2003) Petrogenesis of Group I kimberlites from Kimberley, South Africa: evidence from bulk rock geochemistry. J Petrol 44:2261–2286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann B, Mainkar D, Belyatsky B (2006) The Tokapal crater-facies kimberlite system, Chattisgarh, India: reconnaissance petrography and geochemistry. J Geol Soc India 68:9–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann B, Storey C, Mainkar D, Jeffries T (2007) In-situ U-Pb dating of titanite in the Tokapal-Bejripadar kimberlite system, Central India. J Geol Soc India 69:553–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann B, Burgess R, Frei D, Mainkar D, Chalapathi Rao NV, Heaman LM (2010) Diamondiferous kimberlites in central India synchronous with the Deccan flood basalts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 290:142–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mainkar D, Lehmann B, Haggerty SE (2004) The crater-facies kimberlite system of Tokapal, Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, India. Lithos 76:201–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malkovets VG, Griffin WL, O’Reilly SY, Wood BJ (2007) Diamond, subcalcic garnet, and mantle metasomatism: Kimberlite sampling patterns define the link. Geology 35:339–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCammon CA, Griffin WL, Shee SR, O’Neill HSC (2001) Oxidation during metasomatism in ultramafic xenoliths from the Wesselton kimberlite, South Africa: implications for the survival of diamond. Contrib Mineral Petrol 141:287–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell RH (1995) Kimberlites, orangeites and related rocks. Plenum Press, New York, 410p

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell RH (1997) Kimberlites, orangeites, lamproites, melilitites, and minettes: a petrographic atlas. Almaz Press, Thunder Bay, 243p

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon PH (1995) A review of mantle xenoliths and their role in diamond exploration. J Geodyn 20:305–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly SY, Griffin WL (2006) Imaging chemical and thermal heterogeneity in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle: geophysical implications. Tectonophys 416:289–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasteris JD (1983) Spinel zonation in the De Beers kimberlite, South Africa: possible role of phlogopite. Can Mineral 21:41–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramakrishnan M (1987) Stratigraphy, sedimentary environment and evolution of the late Proterozoic Indravati Basin, Central India. Mem Geol Soc India 6:139–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Roeder PL, Schulze DJ (2008) Crystallization of groundmass spinel in kimberlite. J Petrol 49:1473–1495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan CG, Griffin WL, Pearson NJ (1996) Garnet geotherms: pressure-temperature data from Cr-pyrope garnet xenocrysts in volcanic rocks. J GeophysRes 101:5611–5625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sastry CA, Rama Rao G, Prasad GJS, Reddy VA (2005) Electron micro analysis of indicator minerals from kimberlites of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka-basic data. Geol Surv India Bull Series C6:282p

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze DJ (2001) Origins of chromian and aluminous spinel macrocrysts from kimberlites in southern Africa. Can Mineral 39:361–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobolev NV (1974) Deep seated inclusions in kimberlites and the problem of the composition of the upper mantle. Nauka Publishing House, Novosibirsk, 264pp (in Russian). English translation (1977) ed. by Boyd FR, American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C., 279pp

  • Tompkins LA, Haggerty SE (1985) Groundmass oxide minerals in the Koidu kimberlite dikes, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Contrib Mineral Petrol 91:245–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

NVCR thanks the Head, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, BHU, for extending facilities and for encouragement and the Humboldt Foundation for support. BKP thanks UGC for financial support in the form of a research fellowship. M/s Diatech services and Analabs, Western Australia are thanked for their help. Constructive criticism by Felix Kaminsky, Wu Fuyuan and an anonymous reviewer and editorial suggestions by L.G. Gwalani and Johann Raith helped to improve the manuscript and we express our grateful thanks to all of them.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    N. V. Chalapathi Rao & B. K. Panwar

  2. Mineral Resources, Technical University of Clausthal, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    B. Lehmann

  3. Directorate of Geology and Mining, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, 492007, India

    D. Mainkar

Authors
  1. N. V. Chalapathi Rao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. Lehmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Mainkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. B. K. Panwar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. V. Chalapathi Rao.

Additional information

Editorial handling: L. G. Gwalani

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chalapathi Rao, N.V., Lehmann, B., Mainkar, D. et al. Diamond-facies chrome spinel from the Tokapal kimberlite, Indrāvati basin, central India and its petrological significance. Miner Petrol 105, 121–133 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-012-0199-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-012-0199-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation