Experimental investigation of the origin of majoritic garnet inclusions in diamonds

Abstract

Multianvil experiments were carried out at 10–15 GPa and 1600–1700 °C to match the compositions of majoritic garnet inclusions from diamonds, and to determine the compositions of other phases potentially coexisting with these inclusions in the source. Most experiments produced coexisting majoritic garnet, diopsidic clinopyroxene, one or more (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 polymorphs, and quenched carbonatic melt. The experimental garnets had relatively high Ca and Fe contents similar to the observed Ca and Fe contents of the inclusions. The resulting Si contents confirmed that the depth of origin of the inclusion with the highest Si content did not exceed 410 km, thus none of the majoritic garnet inclusions found so far originated in the transition zone (410–660 km). The evidence from inclusions and experiments is consistent with the presence of an eclogite layer occurring globally between 200 and 410 km. Compositional variations observed among more than 100 majoritic garnet inclusions with their Si content, which is a measure of pressure and depth, are consistent with the origin of the eclogite layer by crystal fractionation in a magma ocean. The compositions of olivine coexisting with majoritic garnet in the experimental products had the average Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratios between 0.16 and 0.28. Inclusions with such high Fe contents have not been found; the Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratio of the olivine inclusions in diamonds usually varies between 0.05 and 0.09. Hence, the mantle between 200 and 410 km may not contain olivine. In the absence of olivine, the discontinuity at 410 km is most likely a chemical boundary between the 200-km-thick eclogite layer and a more mafic transition zone.