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Diamonds and the Geology of Mantle Carbon
- Source :
- Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Mineralogical Society, 2013, 75, pp.355-421. ⟨10.2138/rmg.2013.75.12⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Mineralogical Society of America, 2013.
-
Abstract
- Introduction Earth’s carbon, derived from planetesimals in the 1 AU region during accretion of the Solar System, still retains similarities to carbon found in meteorites (Marty et al. 2013) even after 4.57 billion years of geological processing. The range in isotopic composition of carbon on Earth versus meteorites is nearly identical and, for both, diamond is a common, if volumetrically minor, carbon mineral (Haggerty 1999). Diamond is one of the three native carbon minerals on Earth (the other two being graphite and lonsdaleite). It can crystallize throughout the mantle below about 150 km and can occur metastably in the crust. Diamond is a rare mineral, occurring at the part-per-billion level even within the most diamondiferous volcanic host rock although some rare eclogites have been known to contain 10–15% diamond. As a trace mineral it is unevenly distributed and, except for occurrences in metamorphosed crustal rocks, it is a xenocrystic phase within the series of volcanic rocks (kimberlites, lamproites, ultramafic lamprohyres), which bring it to the surface and host it. The occurrence of diamond on Earth’s surface results from its unique resistance to alteration/dissolution and the sometimes accidental circumstances of its sampling by the volcanic host rock. Diamonds are usually the chief minerals left from their depth of formation, because intact diamondiferous mantle xenoliths are rare. Diamond has been intensively studied over the last 40 years to provide extraordinary information on our planet’s interior. For example, from the study of its inclusions, diamond is recognized as the only material sampling the “very deep” mantle to depths exceeding 800 km (Harte et al. 1999; McCammon 2001; Stachel and Harris 2009; Harte 2010) although most crystals (~95%) derive from shallower depths (150 to 250 km). Diamonds are less useful in determining carbon fluxes on Earth because they provide only a small, …
- Subjects :
- geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
diamonds
[SDU.STU.PE]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Petrography
Geochemistry
Diamond
Lonsdaleite
Crust
15. Life on land
engineering.material
010502 geochemistry & geophysics
mantle carbon
01 natural sciences
Mantle (geology)
Volcanic rock
Geochemistry and Petrology
Ultramafic rock
engineering
Eclogite
Kimberlite
Geology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15296466 and 19432666
- Volume :
- 75
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b670742fcec841631dc2ae7c9c53c77e