Fractionation of nitrogen isotopes in a synthetic diamond of mixed crystal habit

Diamond and Other Exotic Mineral-Bearing Ophiolites on the Globe: A Key to Understand the Discovery of New Minerals and Formation of Ophiolitic Podiform Chromitite

Ophiolite-hosted diamond from peridotites and podiform chromitites significantly differs from those of kimberlitic diamond and ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic diamond in terms of occurrence, mineral inclusion, as well as carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition. In this review, we briefly summarize the global distribution of twenty-five diamond-bearing ophiolites in different suture zones and outline the bulk-rock compositions, mineral and particular Re-Os isotopic systematics of these ophiolitic chromitites and host peridotites. These data indicate that the subcontinental lithospheric mantle is likely involved in the formation of podiform chromitite. We also provide an overview of the UHP textures and unusual mineral assemblages, including diamonds, other UHP minerals (e.g., moissanite, coesite) and crustal minerals, which robustly offer evidence of crustal recycling in the deep mantle along the suprasubduction zone (SSZ) and then being transported to shallow mantle depths by asthenospheric mantle upwelling in mid-ocean-ridge and SSZ settings. A systematic comparison between four main genetic models provides insights into our understanding of the origin of ophiolite-hosted diamond and the formation of podiform chromitite. Diamond-bearing peridotites and chromitites in ophiolites are important objects to discover new minerals from the deep earth and provide clues on the chemical composition and the physical condition of the deep mantle.

Formation of diamond in the Earth's mantle

The principal sources of natural diamonds are peridotitic (about 2/3 of diamonds) and eclogitic (1/3) domains located at 140-200 km depth in the subcratonic lithospheric mantle. There, diamonds probably form during redox reactions in the presence of melt (likely for eclogitic and lherzolitic diamonds) or under subsolidus conditions in the presence of CHO fluids (likely for harzburgitic diamonds). Co-variations of δ(13)C and the nitrogen content of diamonds suggest that two modes of formation may have been operational in peridotitic sources: (1) reduction of carbonates, that during closed system fractionation drives diamond compositions to higher δ(13)C values and lower nitrogen concentrations and (2) oxidation of methane, that in a closed system leads to a trend of decreasing δ(13)C with decreasing nitrogen. The present day redox state of subcratonic lithospheric mantle is generally too reduced to allow for methane oxidation to be a widespread process. Therefore, reduction of carbonate dissolved in melts and fluids is likely the dominant mode of diamond formation for the Phanerozoic (545 Ma-present) and Proterozoic (2.5 Ga-545 Ma). Model calculations indicate, however, that for predominantly Paleoarchean (3.6-3.2 Ga) to Mesoarchean (3.2-2.8 Ga) harzburgitic diamonds, methane reduction is the principal mode of precipitation. This suggests that the reduced present day character (oxygen fugacity below carbonate stability) of peridotitic diamond sources may be a secondary feature, possibly acquired during reducing Archean (>2.5 Ga) metasomatism. Recycling of biogenic carbonates back into the mantle through subduction only became an important process in the Paleoproterozoic (2.5-1.6 Ga) and diamonds forming during carbonate reduction, therefore, may predominantly be post-Archean in age. For eclogitic diamonds, open system fractionation processes involving separation of a CO(2) fluid appear to dominate, but in principal the same two modes of formation (methane oxidation, carbonate reduction) may have operated. Direct conversion of graphitized subducted organic matter is not considered to be an important process for the formation of eclogitic diamonds. The possible derivation of (12)C enriched carbon in eclogitic diamonds from remobilized former organic matter is, however, feasible in some cases and seems likely involved, for example, in the formation of sublithospheric eclogitic diamonds from the former Jagersfontein Mine (South Africa).