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Groundmass oxide minerals in the Koidu kimberlite dikes, Sierra Leone, West Africa

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Abstract

Petrology and oxide mineral chemistry are presented on 5 kimberlite dikes that are classified into three groups: (1) one dike is highly carbonated and highly oxidized (> MH) and is characterised by chlorite+Mn-titanomagnetite+rutile+hematite (after chlorite)+maghemite (after titanomagnetite), with ilmenite and perovskite being absent; (2) three dikes are typified by atoll-textured spinels +phlogopite+euhedral Mn-picroilmenite, of intermediate oxidation state (WM-FMQ) with coexisting deuterically serpentinized olivine+Ni-Fe alloys and magnetite; (3) the remaining dike records an early crystallization event under very low (≤ WM) redox conditions that precipitated anionic-deficient spinels and a Mg-Ti-Cr-wüstite-type phase, followed by late stage more oxidizing (=FMQ) Mnpicroilmenite.

Spinels are complexly zoned and crystallization trends among the dikes are diverse, underscoring the fact that no single compositional trend, or evolutionary sequence is typical of kimberlites. Ilmenites are euhedral, and criteria for groundmass crystallization are established. Extraordinarily high MnO (max 17 wt%) contents and high geikielite (62 mole%) concentrations expand the ilmenite field typically assigned to that of kimberlites. Zirconium, Nb and Cr are present in concentrations of 0.5–3 wt% (as oxides) in ilmenite. These highly incompatible elements, along with Mn, are concentrated in late stage melt fractions. The high pyrophanite contents, which are more typical of silicic alkali suites, are accompanied by phlogopite in the Koidu dikes.

Objective evaluations of kimberlite-carbonatite relations, as outlined in the literature, cannot be made based on the oxide mineral group. Much of the compositional data for oxides in kimberlites are on mantle-derived xenolith suites and are not from oxides derived from the crystallization of kimberlitic melts.

Assessments of the fO2's of kimberlites have considerable potential in evaluating diamond survival through redox reactions. Manganese-rich (+Nb, Zr, Cr) ilmenites are typical of many kimberlites and should be considered in the suite of index minerals employed in prospecting.

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  1. Linda A. Tompkins

    Present address: B.P. Mineraçaō Ltda., Rua Martins Ferreira, 75 Botofogo, CEP22271, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Linda A. Tompkins & Stephen E. Haggerty

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  1. Linda A. Tompkins
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Tompkins, L.A., Haggerty, S.E. Groundmass oxide minerals in the Koidu kimberlite dikes, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 91, 245–263 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413351

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