Abstract
Microinclusions analyzed in a coated diamond from the Diavik mine in Canada comprise peridotitic minerals and fluids. The fluids span a wide compositional range between a carbonatitic melt and brine. The diamond is concentrically zoned. The brine microinclusions reside in an inner growth zone and their endmember composition is K 19Na 25Ca 5Mg 8Fe 3Ba 2Si 4Cl 32 (mol%). The carbonatitic melt is found in an outer layer and its endmember composition is K 11Na 21Ca 11Mg 26Fe 7Ba 2Si 10Al 3P 2Cl 5. The transition in inclusion chemistry is accompanied by a change in the carbon isotopic composition of the diamond from −8.5‰ in the inner zone to −12.1‰ in the outer zone. We suggest that this transition reflects mixing between already evolved brine and a freshly introduced carbonatitic melt of different isotopic composition. The compositional range found in diamond ON-DVK-294 is the widest ever recorded in a single diamond. It closes the gap between brine found in cloudy octahedral diamonds from South Africa and carbonatitic melt analyzed in cubic diamonds from Zaire and Botswana. Thus, all microinclusions analyzed to date fall along two arrays connecting the carbonatitic melt composition to either a hydrous-silicic endmember or to a brine endmember. This connection suggests that many diamonds are formed from fluids derived form a mantle source not significantly influenced by local heterogeneities.
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