Kankan diamonds (Guinea) II: lower mantle inclusion parageneses

Abstract

Frequent inclusions of ferropericlase, some coexisting with phases of MgSiO₃, CaSiO₃ and SiO₂ composition, suggest that a large proportion of diamonds from Guinea are derived from the lower mantle. Low aluminium contents in MgSiO₃ inclusions indicate derivation from the uppermost lower mantle, where Al solubility in perovskite is low. Trace element analyses (SIMS) of CaSiO₃ inclusions reveal extreme degrees of LREE (200–2000 times chondritic) and Sr enrichment (70–1000 times chondritic) together with negative and positive Eu anomalies. This implies a highly enriched lower mantle source, possibly a product of a subducted oceanic slab. A number of phases that are only stable in the upper mantle are found to coexist with lower mantle phases and thereby indicate retrograde equilibration during slow exhumation within a rising plume or convection cell. In one case, however, an inclusion paragenesis of ferropericlase and olivine can be shown to have formed within the upper mantle, indicating that the occurrence of ferropericlase inclusions alone is an unreliable indicator of lower mantle origin.