Wüstite stability in the presence of a CO2-fluid and a carbonate-silicate melt: Implications for the graphite/diamond formation and generation of Fe-rich mantle metasomatic agents

Abstract

Experimental simulation of the interaction of wüstite with a CO2-rich fluid and a carbonate-silicate melt was performed using a multianvil high-pressure split-sphere apparatus in the FeO-MgO-CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-CO2 system at a pressure of 6.3GPa and temperatures in the range of 1150°C–1650°C and with run time of 20h. At relatively low temperatures, decarbonation reactions occur in the system to form iron-rich garnet (Alm75Prp17Grs8), magnesiowüstite (Mg#≤0.13), and CO2-rich fluid. Under these conditions, magnesiowüstite was found to be capable of partial reducing CO2 to C0 that leads to the formation of Fe3+-bearing magnesiowüstite, crystallization of magnetite and metastable graphite, and initial growth of diamond seeds. At T≥1450°C, an iron-rich carbonate-silicate melt (FeO~56wt.%, SiO2~12wt.%) forms in the system. Interaction between (Fe,Mg)O, SiO2, fluid and melt leads to oxidation of magnesiowüstite and crystallization of fayalite-magnetite spinel solid solution (1450°C) as well as to complete dissolution of magnesiowüstite in the carbonate-silicate melt (1550°C–1650°C). In the presence of both carbonate-silicate melt and CO2-rich fluid, dissolution (oxidation) of diamond and metastable graphite was found to occur. The study results demonstrate that under pressures of the lithospheric mantle in the presence of a CO2-rich fluid, wüstite/magnesiowüstite is stable only at relatively low temperatures when it is in the absolute excess relative to CO2-rich fluid. In this case, the redox reactions, which produce metastable graphite and diamond with concomitant partial oxidation of wüstite to magnetite, occur. Wüstite is unstable under high concentrations of a CO2-rich fluid as well as in the presence of a carbonate-silicate melt: it is either completely oxidized or dissolves in the melt or fluid phase, leading to the formation of Fe2+- and Fe3+-enriched carbonate-silicate melts, which are potential metasomatic agents in the lithospheric mantle.