Melt inclusions in olivine phenocrysts in unaltered kimberlites from the Udachnaya-East pipe, Yakutia: Some aspects of kimberlite magma evolution during late crystallization stages

Abstract

The results of a complex study of melt inclusions in olivine phenocrysts contained in unaltered kimberlites from the Udachnaya-East pipe indicate that the inclusions were captured late during the magmatic stage, perhaps, under a pressure of <1 kbar and a temperature of ≤800°C. The inclusions consist of fine crystalline aggregates (carbonates + sulfates + chlorides) + gas ± crystalline phases. Minerals identified among the transparent daughter phases of the inclusions are silicates (tetraferriphlogopite, olivine, humite or clinohumite, diopside, and monticellite), carbonates (calcite, dolomite, siderite, northupite, and Na-Ca carbonates), Na and K chlorides, and alkali sulfates. The ore phases are magnetite, djerfisherite, and monosulfide solid solution. The inclusions are derivatives of the kimberlite melt. The complex silicate-carbonate-salt composition of the secondary melt inclusions in olivine from the kimberlite suggests that the composition of the kimberlite melt near the surface differed from that of the initial melt composition in having higher contents of CaO, FeO, alkalis, and volatiles (CO2, H2O, F, Cl, and S) at lower concentrations of SiO2, MgO, Al2O3, Cr2O3, and TiO2. Hence, when crystallizing, the kimberlite melt evolved toward carbonatite compositions. The last derivatives of the kimberlite melt had an alkaline carbonatite composition.