Sublithospheric diamond ages and the supercontinent cycle.

Subduction related to the ancient supercontinent cycle is poorly constrained by mantle samples. Sublithospheric diamond crystallization records the release of melts from subducting oceanic lithosphere at 300-700 km depths1,2 and is especially suited to tracking the timing and effects of deep mantle processes on supercontinents. Here we show that four isotope systems (Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Pb and Re-Os) applied to Fe-sulfide and CaSiO3 inclusions within 13 sublithospheric diamonds from Juína (Brazil) and Kankan (Guinea) give broadly overlapping crystallization ages from around 450 to 650 million years ago. The intracratonic location of the diamond deposits on Gondwana and the ages, initial isotopic ratios, and trace element content of the inclusions indicate formation from a peri-Gondwanan subduction system. Preservation of these Neoproterozoic-Palaeozoic sublithospheric diamonds beneath Gondwana until its Cretaceous breakup, coupled with majorite geobarometry3,4, suggests that they accreted to and were retained in the lithospheric keel for more than 300 Myr during supercontinent migration. We propose that this process of lithosphere growth-with diamonds attached to the supercontinent keel by the diapiric uprise of depleted buoyant material and pieces of slab crust-could have enhanced supercontinent stability

The composition of Yakutian diamond-forming liquids

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Growth medium and carbon source of unusual rounded diamonds from alluvial placers of the North-East of Siberian Platform

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Parental growth media of Siberian diamonds - relation to kimberlites

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Composition of trapped fluids in cuboid fibrous diamonds from the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe : LAM-ICPMS analysis

The bulk major- and trace-element compositions of micro-inclusions in 24 cuboid diamonds from the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe (Siberia, Russia) have been quantitatively analyzed by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LAM-ICPMS). Micro-inclusions in the studied diamonds represent a bulk sample of the fluids from which the diamonds crystallized; they define a continuous range between magnesian and calcic carbonate-rich compositions at relatively constant Fe contents (Ca/(Ca + Mg) = 0.31–0.68; Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 0.66–0.78). In general the major- and trace-element patterns of the trapped fluids in Udachnaya cuboid diamonds are similar to those of kimberlites and carbonatites. However, some important differences are observed: (1) the fluids in diamonds are enriched in K, Na, Fe and depleted in Al relative to the host kimberlite; (2) the REE patterns of the fluids are steeper than those of kimberlites; (3) many of the fluids show strong depletion in Ti, Zr and Y. The observed geochemical features are consistent with a genetic link between the diamond-forming fluids and ephemeral carbonatitic fluids/melts which may be precursors of the host kimberlite. These fluids/melts may originate either from the metasomatic and influx of carbonatitic agents or from partial melting of previously carbonated eclogites and peridotites. Some elemental variations may be explained by fractional crystallization of such fluid/melts, or mixing between fluids with different compositions.12 page(s