ALBERT

Notes: [Auszug] The OJP occupies a 1,600 x 800-km area of the Pacific Ocean to the north-east of Bougainville Island (Papua New Guinea) and the Solomon Island chain, and is broadly defined by a water depth of less than 2,500 m (Fig. 1). Marine seismic studies1'2 over the OJP have revealed the presence in the ...

Notes: [Auszug] The Beni Bousera peridotite massif forms part of the Betico-Rifean Fold Belt. A continuous gravity high between Beni FiG. 1 Photograph of upper half of a sharp-edged octahedron protruding from the garnet pyroxenite layer. Bousera and the Ronda peridotite in south-west Spain1 indicates ...

Notes: Abstract Graphite-bearing peridotites, pyroxenites and eclogite xenoliths from the Kaapvaal craton of southern Africa and the Siberian craton, Russia, have been studied with the aim of: 1) better characterising the abundance and distribution of elemental carbon in the shallow continental lithospheric mantle; (2) determining the isotopic composition of the graphite; (3) testing for significant metastability of graphite in mantle rocks using mineral thermobarometry. Graphite crystals in peridotie, pyroxenite and eclogite xenoliths have X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra characteristic of highly crystalline graphite of high-temperature origin and are interpreted to have crystallised within the mantle. Thermobarometry on the graphite-peridotite assemblages using a variety of element partitions and formulations yield estimated equilibration conditions that plot at lower temperatures and pressures than diamondiferous assemblages. Moreover, estimated pressures and temperatures for the graphite-peridotites fall almost exclusively within the experimentally determined graphite stability field and thus we find no evidence for substantial graphite metastability. The carbon isotopic composition of graphite in peridotites from this and other studies varies from δ13 CPDB = − 12.3 to − −3.8%o with a mean of-6.7‰, σ=2.1 (n=22) and a mode between-7 and-6‰. This mean is within one standard deviation of the-4‰ mean displayed by diamonds from peridotite xenoliths, and is identical to that of diamonds containing peridotite-suite inclusions. The carbon isotope range of graphite and diamonds in peridotites is more restricted than that observed for either phase in eclogites or pyroxenites. The isotopic range displayed by peridotite-suite graphite and diamond encompasses the carbon isotope range observed in mid-ocean-ridge-basalt (MORB) glasses and ocean-island basalts (OIB). Similarity between the isotopic compositions of carbon associated with cratonic peridotites and the carbon (as CO2) in oceanic magmas (MORB/OIB) indicates that the source of the fluids that deposited carbon, as graphite or diamond, in catonic peridotites lies within the convecting mantle, below the lithosphere. Textural observations provide evidence that some of graphite in cratonic peridotites is of sub-solidus metasomatic origin, probably deposited from a cooling C-H-O fluid phase permeating the lithosphere along fractures. Macrocrystalline graphite of primary appearance has not been found in mantle xenoliths from kimberlitic or basaltic rocks erupted away from cratonic areas. Hence, graphite in mantle-derived xenoliths appears to be restricted to Archaean cratons and occurs exclusively in low-temperature, coarse peridotites thought to be characteristic of the lithospheric mantle. The tectonic association of graphite within the mantle is very similar to that of diamond. It is unlikely that this restricted occurrence is due solely to unique conditions of oxygen fugacity in the cratonic lithospheric mantle because some peridotite xenoliths from off-craton localities are as reduced as those from within cratons. Radiogenic isotope systematics of peridotite-suite diamond inclusions suggest that diamond crystallisation was not directly related to the melting events that formed lithospheric peridotites. However, some diamond (and graphite?) crystallisation in southern Africa occurred within the time span associated with the stabilisation of the lithospheric mantle (Pearson et al. 1993). The nature of the process causing localisation of carbon in cratonic mantle roots is not yet clearly understood.

Notes: Abstract Clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and garnet megacrysts show consistent increase of Na and Ti, and decrease of Cr, with increasing Fe/Mg. Three groups of clinopyroxenes occur with increasing Fe/Mg: subcalcic diopside, lamellar intergrowth with ilmenite, and augite. Chemical relationships indicate simultaneous crystallization of garnet, orthopyroxene and sub-calcic diopside megacrysts, and pyroxene thermometry-barometry indicates a trend from 29 kb−1,230 ° C to 25 kb−1,080 ° C as crystallization proceeded to higher Fe/Mg. Ilmenite-pyroxene thermometry suggests a mean of 965 ° C for crystallization of the intergrowths, but calibration depends on crystal-chemical assumptions. Lherzolite assemblages fall into three groups: two garnet-bearing types which equilibrated at 31 kb−1,150 ° C and 22 kb−900 ° C, and a type bearing Al-rich spinel which probably crystallized below 20 kb. The minerals from the lherzolites have lower Fe/Mg than the megacrysts. The simplest model involves: (i) metamorphic equilibration of lherzolitic rocks to the local geotherm, (ii) local melting of lherzolite at P 〉 30 kb, (iii) sequential crystallization of megacrysts as the magma rose intermittently, (iv) generation of alnöitic magma at P 〉 32 kb, and (v) eruption to surface with transport of megacrysts and lherzolitic xenoliths. Garnet, olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene in these Malaita xenoliths have lower Na, Ti, and P relative to their equivalents from southern African kimberlites. Only clinopyroxene contains K (up to 270 ppmw), and no Na was found in olivine.

Notes: Abstract Xenoliths consisting of two thirds pyrope (Py73Alm14Gr13-Py15Alm18Gr31) and one third hercynite-bearing spinel with minor chromium, from Bellsbank and Jagersfontein kimberlites, South Africa, are compared with similar rocks, “alkremites”, from the Udachnaya pipe, U.S.S.R. From published experimental data and textural relationships these formed as early dense cumulates in aluminous mantle melts under restricted pressure conditions equivalent to about 75 km depth. At greater pressures very pyrope-rich garnets (Py80) are capable of being formed. The garnet spinel xenoliths are considered to have become separated from the magma prior to crystallisation of clinopyroxene, whereas complete uninterrupted fractionation and reaction would produce the more common griquaites (eclogites).

Notes: Abstract Low-Ca garnet harzburgite xenoliths contain garnets that are deficient in Ca relative to those that have equilibrated with diopside in the iherzolite assemblage. Minor proportions of these harzburgites are of wide-spread occurrence in xenolith suites from the Kaapvaal craton and are of particular interest because of their relation to diamond host rocks. The harzburgite xenoliths are predominantly coarse but one specimen from Jagersfontein and another from Premier have deformed textures similar to those of high-temperature peridotites. Analyses for many elements in the harzburgites and associated iherzolites form concordant overlapping trends. On the average, however, the harzburgites are deficient in Si, Ca, Al and Fe but enriched in Mg and Ni relative to the lherzolites. Both the harzburgites and lherzolites are enstatite-rich with mg numbers [100.Mg/(Mg+Fetotal)] greater than 92 and in these respects differ markedly from residues generated by extraction of MORB. Equilibration temperatures and depths calculated for the harzburgites have the ranges 600–1,400°C and 50–200 km. Those of deepest origin overlap the interval between low-and high-temperature lherzolites that commonly is observed in temperature-depth plots for the Kaapvaal craton, suggesting that some harzburgites may be concentrated relative to lherzolites at the base of the lithosphere. The low-Ca harzburgites and lherzolite xenoliths have overlapping depths of origin, gradational bulk chemical characteristics and similar textures, and therefore both are believed to have formed as residues of Archaen melting events. The harzburgites differ from the lherzolites only in that they are more depleted. Garnets and associated minerals in harzburgite xenoliths differ from minerals of the same assemblage that are included in diamonds in that the latter are more Cr-rich, Mg-rich and Ca-poor. Coarse crystals of low-Ca garnet with the compositional characteristics of diamond inclusions commonly occur as disaggregated grains in diamondiferous kimberlites. Their host rocks are presumed to have been harzburgites and dunites. The differences in composition between the disaggregated grains that are similar to diamond inclusions and those comprising xenoliths imply some differences in origin. Possibly the disaggregated harzburgites with diamond-inclusion mineralogy have undergone repeated partial melting and depletion near the base of the lithosphere subsequent to their primary depletion and aggregation in the craton. Equilibration with magnesite may have reduced the Ca contents of their garnets and decomposition of the magnesite during eruption may have caused their disaggregation.

Notes: Abstract The temperature dependence of the Mn-Mg distribution between garnet and clinopyroxene, originally proposed by Carswell, was confirmed by Shimizu and Allègre (1978) using ion microprobe and electron microprobe data. High precision electron microprobe analyses of a larger set of 52 Iherzolites from S. Africa and Malaita, Solomon Islands show considerable scatter in the temperature dependence of this distribution, and correlation with the CaO content of the garnet is indicated. A new distribution coefficient is based on the reaction: $$\begin{gathered} \operatorname{Mn} _{\text{2}} \operatorname{Si} _2 \operatorname{O} _6 {\text{ + }}\operatorname{CaAl} _{2/3} \operatorname{SiO} _4 {\text{ + }}\operatorname{MgAl} _{2/3} \operatorname{SiO} _4 \hfill \\ {\text{Mn - pyroxene grossular pyrope}} \hfill \\ {\text{ }} \rightleftharpoons \operatorname{CaMgSi} _2 \operatorname{O} _6 {\text{ + }}2\operatorname{MnAl} _{2/3} \operatorname{SiO} _4 \hfill \\ {\text{ diopside spessartine}} \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ It was calibrated against temperature determined from two independent thermometers (Wells pyroxene and O'Neill-Wood garnet-olivine) for Iherzolitic assemblages, and shown to to be sensitive to within + 50 °C for most specimens in the range 900 °– 1,300 ° C. This distribution coefficient appears independent of pressure within the uncertainty of the available data, and has the potential to be a third independent thermometer for use in garnet Iherzolites and possibly eclogites.

Notes: Abstract Abundant small xenoliths in the Mzongwana kimberlite dike, Transkei, southern Africa, are predominantly pyroxenites composed of ilmenite, pyrope, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, rutile, and phlogopite; two of the xenoliths contain small amounts of Ti-rich amphibole near kaersutite in composition. A majority of the pyroxenites have polygonal granoblastic textures, but many have fasciculate, acicular and skeletal growths. The latter are believed to be the product of rapid crystallization because of similarities to textures of lunar and terrestrial volcanic rocks and quenched experimental charges. Segregations of garnet or ilmenite and pyroxene are common, and these are believed to have originated by crystallization from supersaturated magma. Pyroxenes in the rocks that appear to have crystallized most rapidly are richer in Al and Ti and the garnets are richer in Ti than comparable phases in the granoblastic rocks. The Mzongwana kimberlite is estimated to have a minimum depth of origin of 150 km by application of pyroxene thermobarometry to bronzite discrete nodules. The depth of crystallization of the pyroxenite xenoliths is believed to be near 100 km on the basis of comparison with phase relations determined by experiment. The pyroxenites appear to have crystallized from Ti-rich, olivine-free magma that was probably derived from a kimberlitic parent. A basaltic source (Karoo?), however, is not ruled out. Rapid crystallization of the pyroxenites at depth in the mantle may have occurred by intrusion in thin dikes some days prior to inclusion in erupting kimberlite. Alternatively, the kimberlite may have incorporated a pyroxenitic liquid, either derivative or unrelated, that crystallized through loss of volatiles and heat in contact with the expanding kimberlite vapor phase. The compositions of the minerals in the Mzongwana pyroxenites are similar to those of Fe-rich discrete nodules that occur in many other kimberlites. Perhaps the minerals in the pyroxenites and the discrete nodules have similar origins except that the Mzongwana pyroxenites crystallized more rapidly at shallower depths in the mantle.