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Interaction of Kimberlite Magma with Diamonds Upon Uplift from the Upper Mantle to the Earth’s Crust

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Abstract—

Interaction between a melt of kimberlite from the Nyurbinskaya pipe (Yakutia) and natural monocrystalline diamonds was studied experimentally at 0.15 GPa and 1200–1250°C in high-pressure and high-temperature Ar gas “bombs.” The loss of diamond weight with slight surface dissolution of diamonds in a Ca carbonate-bearing kimberlite melt over the course of 2 h (the period of kimberlite transport from upper-mantle diamond-forming chambers to the crustal cumulative centers) is 3–4.5%. In 4 and 7–8 days (under the conditions of crustal cumulative centers), the weight of diamond decreases with remarkable bulk dissolution by 13.5 and 24.5–27.5%, respectively. In the run at 0.15 GPa and 1200°C kimberlite and ilmenite (added) melts interact to produce perovskite melt. Both of the melts, rich in titanium minerals, are immiscible with kimberlite melt and therefore cannot influence the diamond dissolution kinetics in the kimberlite melt. The experimental results suggest that precisely the dissolution processes for thermodynamically metastable diamonds in silicate–carbonate kimberlitic magmas are responsible for the effective decrease in the diamond potential of kimberlite deposits. The paper discusses the physicochemical reasons for the decrease in the kimberlite diamond potential during the chemically active history of diamond genesis: from upper-mantle chambers to the explosive release of diamonds and kimberlite material from cumulative centers to the Earth’s surface. The data on experimental physicochemical studies of the origin, analytical mineralogy of inclusions, and isotope geochemistry of diamonds are correlated.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (program I.8P “Physics of Condensed Media and New-Generation Materials,” by the Foundation of the President of the Russian Federation (grant MD-3464.2017.5 for Young Doctors of Sciences) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 16-05-00850).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korjinsky Institute of Experimental Mineralogy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432, Chernogolovka, Moscow oblast, Russia

    Yu. A. Litvin, A. V. Kuzyura, D. A. Varlamov & A. V. Spivak

  2. Geological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Bovkun

  3. Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    V. K. Garanin

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  1. Yu. A. Litvin
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  2. A. V. Kuzyura
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  4. A. V. Bovkun
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Litvin.

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Translated by A. Bobrov

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Litvin, Y.A., Kuzyura, A.V., Varlamov, D.A. et al. Interaction of Kimberlite Magma with Diamonds Upon Uplift from the Upper Mantle to the Earth’s Crust. Geochem. Int. 56, 881–900 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702918090070

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