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Geology of the Renard 65 kimberlite pipe, Québec, Canada

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Abstract

Renard 65, a diamondiferous pipe in the Neoproterozoic Renard kimberlite cluster (Québec, Canada), is a steeply-dipping and downward-tapering diatreme comprised of three pipe-filling units: kimb65a, kimb65b, and kimb65d. The pipe is surrounded by a marginal and variably-brecciated country rock aureole and is crosscut by numerous hypabyssal dykes: kimb65c. Extensive petrographic and mineralogical characterization of over 700 m of drill core from four separate drill holes, suggests that Renard 65 is a Group I kimberlite, mineralogically classified as phlogopite kimberlite and serpentine-phlogopite kimberlite. Kimb65a is a massive volcaniclastic kimberlite dominated by lithic clasts, magmaclasts, and discrete olivine macrocrysts, hosted within a fine-grained diopside and serpentine-rich matrix. Kimb65b is massive, macrocrystic, coherent kimberlite with a groundmass assemblage of phlogopite, spinel, perovskite, apatite, calcite, serpentine and rare monticellite. Kimb65c is a massive, macrocrystic, hypabyssal kimberlite with a groundmass assemblage of phlogopite, serpentine, calcite, perovskite, spinel, and apatite. Kimb65d is massive volcaniclastic kimberlite with localized textures that are intermediate between volcaniclastic and coherent, with tightly packed magmaclasts separated by a diopside- and serpentine-rich matrix. Lithic clasts of granite-gneiss in kimb65a are weakly reacted, with partial melting of feldspars and crystallization of richterite and actinolite. Lithic clasts in kimb65b and kimb65d are entirely recrystallized to calcite + serpentine/chlorite + pectolite and display inner coronas of diopside-aegirine and an outer corona of phlogopite. Compositions are reported for all minerals in the groundmass of coherent kimberlites, magmaclasts, interclast matrices, and reacted lithic clasts. The Renard 65 rocks are texturally classified as Kimberley-type pyroclastic kimberlites and display transitional textures. The kimberlite units are interpreted to have formed in three melt batches based on their distinct spinel chemistry: kimb65a, kimb65b and kimb65d. We note a strong correlation between the modal abundances of lithic clasts and the textures of the kimberlites, where increasing modal abundances of granite/gneiss are observed in kimberlites with increasingly fragmental textures.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Barbara Scott Smith for her valuable insight in the collection and interpretation of geological data. We are grateful to Ashton Soltys, Hugh O’Brien, Adam Abersteiner, and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable feedback which greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. We thank Bruce Kjarsgaard for his insightful feedback and editorial handling, and Stornoway Diamond Corporation for permission to publish the results. Funding for this this research was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery and Engagement grants to MGK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall #2020, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Matthew Gaudet & Maya Kopylova

  2. Stornoway Diamond Corporation, 980 West 1st St #118, North Vancouver, BC, V7P 3N4, Canada

    Matthew Gaudet, Colleen Muntener & Vlad Zhuk

  3. Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Royal School of Mines, Prince Consort Rd, Kensington, London, SW7 2BP, UK

    Chetan Nathwani

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  1. Matthew Gaudet
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  2. Maya Kopylova
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  3. Colleen Muntener
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  4. Vlad Zhuk
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  5. Chetan Nathwani
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Correspondence to Matthew Gaudet.

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Editorial handling: B. Kjarsgaard

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Gaudet, M., Kopylova, M., Muntener, C. et al. Geology of the Renard 65 kimberlite pipe, Québec, Canada. Miner Petrol 112 (Suppl 2), 433–445 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-018-0633-4

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