Abstract
Within the ‘glimmerite’ nodules occurring within kimberlite pipes we recognize the MARID suite consisting of varying proportions of mica, amphibole, rutile, ilmenite and diopside. Banding of some specimens is interpreted as cumulate layering. All specimens were deformed either before incorporation into the host kimberlite or during intrusion. Compared with minerals in peridotite xenoliths, the MARID ones are lower in Al 2O 3 and Cr 2O 3, but richer in total iron. The MARID micas, amphiboles, diopsides, ilmenites and probably rutiles contain substantial Fe 2O 3 indicative of oxidizing conditions. The amphibole is potassic richterite. Micas of the megacryst suite in kimberlite have less total iron and Fe 2O 3 than micas of the MARID suite. We suggest that the rocks of the MARID suite crystallized under oxidizing conditions from a magma, chemically similar to kimberlite, within the higher parts of the upper mantle: the presence of amphibole restricts the depth to less than ~ 100 km. A xenolith containing olivine and orthopyroxene as well as minerals similar to but not the same compositionally as MARID-types is interpreted as a metasomite, possibly representing wall-rock of a magma body from which MARID-suite rocks crystallized.
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