Salts in southern Yakutian kimberlites and the problem of primary alkali kimberlite melts

Abstract

Alkali carbonates, sodalite, gypsum, anhydrite, halite and sylvite are present in the groundmass and matrix of many kimberlites in the southern part of the Yakutian kimberlite province. The kimberlites were emplaced through 2km-thick evaporite-bearing carbonate sediments saturated with brines. In the global context, southern Yakutian kimberlites are unprecedented in the amount of the crustal carbonate and evaporite material included in the pipes, as evidenced by the bulk major element chemistry and isotopic compositions of Sr, C, O, Cl and S. We present geological and hydrogeological data on country rocks and kimberlites of the Udachnaya, Mir and International'naya pipes. The secondary, crustal origin of Na, K, Cl and S-rich minerals is supported by the following: 1. A regional correlation between the geology and hydrogeology of the local country rocks and the kimberlite mineralogy, in particular the difference between southern and northern Yakutian kimberlites; 2. A restriction of halite or gypsum mineralization in the Mir and International'naya pipes to depths where pipes intersect country rock strata with similar mineralogy; 3. The localization of the highest abundances of NaKClS-bearing minerals in the Udachnaya East kimberlite at a depth interval that correlates across three magmatic phases of kimberlites and coincides with the roof of the halite-bearing country rock and an aquifer carrying anomalously Na-rich brines; 4. The presence of evaporite xenoliths and veins of halite, gypsum and carbonate cutting through the kimberlite and xenoliths; 5. A secondary origin of halite and alkali carbonates as observed in their textural relationships to serpentine and other groundmass minerals; 6. The geochemical and isotopic evidence for crustal contamination. Addition of crustal salts to kimberlite melt began prior to the volcanic fragmentation as a result of preferential melting and assimilation of evaporite xenoliths and may have continued in-situ after the pipe emplacement via reactions with external saline fluids. The hybrid, alkali-, S- and Cl-rich compositions of residual melts and fluids were trapped in secondary inclusions in olivine. The crustal origin of salts in the Udachnaya East kimberlite demonstrated here is incompatible with a model of alkali-rich primary kimberlite melt. It is significantly more Ca-, Na-, B-, and S-rich than the deep-seated mantle K- and Ba-rich fluid inclusions in fibrous diamonds. Our analysis suggests that the Udachnaya East kimberlite is not “exceptional” and “uniquely fresh”, but rather typical of the other crust-contaminated southern Yakutian kimberlites.