Mantle Xenocrysts From the Masontown, Pennsylvania Kimberlite: An Ordinary Mantle With Si-Enriched Spinel

Abstract

A hypabyssal kimberlite dike in southwestern Pennsylvania (USA), emplaced through Proterozoic basement and Phanerozic cover, contains a xenocryst and xenolith assemblage typical of material sampled within the subcontinental lithosphere, including xenocrysts of Cr-rich pyrope, magnesiochromite, Cr-rich diopside, and peridotite xenoliths. Temperatures and depths of equilibration of the clinopyroxene (840 oC and 130 km to 1350 oC and 170 km) indicate some sampling in the field of diamond stability. Diamonds have not been reported, however, and the chemistry of the garnet (lherzolite, Cr-poor megacryst, and Group II eclogite) and spinel (<56.0 wt.% Cr2O3) are consistent with diamond absence and the off-craton tectonic setting of the kimberlite. An unusual feature of this suite is that, unlike most mantle xenolith/xenocryst spinel, some of those from Masontown have an unusually high silica content (to 0.59 wt.% SiO2). The significance of the high silica content is unclear, but may be related to an ultrahigh-pressure precursor chromite polymorph with a calcium ferrite structure, which can accommodate Si in solid solution.