The characterisation and origin of graphite in cratonic lithospheric mantle: a petrological carbon isotope and Raman spectroscopic study

Abstract

Graphite-bearing peridotites, pyroxenites and eclogite xenoliths from the Kaapvaal craton of southern Africa and the Siberian craton, Russia, have been studied with the aim of: 1) better characterising the abundance and distribution of elemental carbon in the shallow continental lithospheric mantle; (2) determining the isotopic composition of the graphite; (3) testing for significant metastability of graphite in mantle rocks using mineral thermobarometry. Graphite crystals in peridotie, pyroxenite and eclogite xenoliths have X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra characteristic of highly crystalline graphite of high-temperature origin and are interpreted to have crystallised within the mantle. Thermobarometry on the graphite-peridotite assemblages using a variety of element partitions and formulations yield estimated equilibration conditions that plot at lower temperatures and pressures than diamondiferous assemblages. Moreover, estimated pressures and temperatures for the graphite-peridotites fall almost exclusively within the experimentally determined graphite stability field and thus we find no evidence for substantial graphite metastability. The carbon isotopic composition of graphite in peridotites from this and other studies varies from δ13 CPDB = − 12.3 to − −3.8%o with a mean of-6.7‰, σ=2.1 (n=22) and a mode between-7 and-6‰. This mean is within one standard deviation of the-4‰ mean displayed by diamonds from peridotite xenoliths, and is identical to that of diamonds containing peridotite-suite inclusions. The carbon isotope range of graphite and diamonds in peridotites is more restricted than that observed for either phase in eclogites or pyroxenites. The isotopic range displayed by peridotite-suite graphite and diamond encompasses the carbon isotope range observed in mid-ocean-ridge-basalt (MORB) glasses and ocean-island basalts (OIB). Similarity between the isotopic compositions of carbon associated with cratonic peridotites and the carbon (as CO2) in oceanic magmas (MORB/OIB) indicates that the source of the fluids that deposited carbon, as graphite or diamond, in catonic peridotites lies within the convecting mantle, below the lithosphere. Textural observations provide evidence that some of graphite in cratonic peridotites is of sub-solidus metasomatic origin, probably deposited from a cooling C-H-O fluid phase permeating the lithosphere along fractures. Macrocrystalline graphite of primary appearance has not been found in mantle xenoliths from kimberlitic or basaltic rocks erupted away from cratonic areas. Hence, graphite in mantle-derived xenoliths appears to be restricted to Archaean cratons and occurs exclusively in low-temperature, coarse peridotites thought to be characteristic of the lithospheric mantle. The tectonic association of graphite within the mantle is very similar to that of diamond. It is unlikely that this restricted occurrence is due solely to unique conditions of oxygen fugacity in the cratonic lithospheric mantle because some peridotite xenoliths from off-craton localities are as reduced as those from within cratons. Radiogenic isotope systematics of peridotite-suite diamond inclusions suggest that diamond crystallisation was not directly related to the melting events that formed lithospheric peridotites. However, some diamond (and graphite?) crystallisation in southern Africa occurred within the time span associated with the stabilisation of the lithospheric mantle (Pearson et al. 1993). The nature of the process causing localisation of carbon in cratonic mantle roots is not yet clearly understood.