Diamond resorption features as a new method for examining conditions of kimberlite emplacement

Abstract

The study develops a new approach utilizing parameters of trigonal etch pits on diamond crystals to infer the conditions of diamond residence in kimberlite magma. Diamond crystals from dissolution experiments conducted at 1 GPa and 1150–1350 °C in the presence of H2O-rich or CO2-rich fluid were studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM data of resorbed diamond surfaces show that much deeper surface relief was produced in CO2 fluid. It also clearly distinguishes the profiles of the trigonal etch pits forming regular flat-bottomed trigons in H2O fluid, and round- or pointed-bottomed trigons in CO2 fluid. The relationship between the diameter and the depth of the trigonal pits is found to be another important indicator of the fluid composition. Dissolution in H2O fluid develops trigons with constant diameter and variable depth where the diameter increases with temperature. Trigons developed in CO2 fluid have a large range of diameters showing a strong positive correlation with the depth. The developed criteria applied to the natural diamond crystals from three Ekati Mine kimberlites indicate significant variation in CO2–H2O ratio and temperature of their magmatic fluid. This conclusion based on diamond resorption agrees with the mineralogy of microphenocrysts and groundmass of the studied kimberlites offering new method to study crystallization conditions of kimberlite magma.