The Effect of Aggregation of Impurity Nitrogen on Diamond X-Ray Luminescence

Two samplings of 65 diamond crystals divided by the intensity of a slow X-ray luminescence component are studied from the Arkhangel’skaya and Karpinskogo-1 pipes. IR and EPR spectroscopies revealed a relationship between the nitrogen A and P2 centers of the diamonds and the presence of a slow X-ray luminescence component. Its absence in most diamonds with high content of P1 (C) centers is explained by the low number of A and P2 centers.     

New data of typomorphic features of diamonds from placers in North Timan

The morphological and spectral-optical properties of diamond crystals from placers in North Timan rivers have been studied with IR-spectroscopy and cathode luminescence methods. As a result, correlation between external characteristics of diamonds (size and degree of mechanical damage) and number of optically active centers has been revealed. The habit and the type of distribution of structural defects in diamond crystals studied are comparable with those in diamonds from the Archangelsk Region and North Timan’s placers. Based on the obtained data, origin issues and possible primary sources of diamonds from North Timan’s placers are discussed.     

Megacrysts from the Grib kimberlite pipe (Arkhangelsk Province, Russia)

The megacryst suite of the Grib kimberlite pipe (Arkhangelsk province, Russia) comprises garnet, clinopyroxene, magnesian ilmenite, phlogopite and garnet-clinopyroxene intergrowths. Crystalline inclusions, mainly of clinopyroxene and picroilmenite, occur in garnet megacrysts. Ilmenite is characterized by a wide range in the contents of MgO (10.6–15.5 wt.%) and Cr₂O₃ (0.7–8.3 wt.%). Megacryst garnets show wide variations in Cr₂O₃ (1.3–9.6 wt.%) and CaO (3.6–11.0 wt.%) but relatively constant MgO (15.4–22.3 wt.%) and FeO (5.2–9.9 wt.%). The pyroxenes also show wide variations in such oxides as Cr₂O₃, Al₂O₃ and Na₂O (0.56–2.95; 0.86–3.25; 1.3–3.0 wt.%, respectively). The high magnesium and chromium content of all these minerals puts them together in one paragenetic group. This conclusion was confirmed by studies of the crystalline inclusions in megacrysts, which demonstrate similar variations in composition. Low concentration of hematite in ilmenite suggests reducing conditions during crystallization. P–T estimates based on the clinopyroxene geothermobarometer (Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 139 (2000) 541) show wide variations (624–1208 °C and 28.8–68.0 kbars), corresponding to a 40–45 mW/m² conductive geotherm. The majority of Gar-Cpx intergrowths differ from the corresponding monomineralic megacrysts in having higher Mg contents and relatively low TiO₂. The minerals from the megacryst association, as a rule, differ from the minerals of mantle xenoliths, but garnets in ilmenite-bearing peridotite xenoliths are compositionally similar to garnet megacrysts. The common features of trace element composition of megacryst minerals and kimberlite (they are poor in Zr group elements) suggest a genetic relationship. The origin of the megacrysts is proposed to be genetically connected with kimberlite magma-chamber evolution on the one hand and with associated mantle metasomatism on the other. We suggest that, depending on the primary melt composition, different paragenetic associations of macro/megacrysts can be crystallized in kimberlites. They include: (1) Fe–Ti (Mir, Udachnaya pipes); (2) high-Mg, Cr (Zagadochna, Kusova pipes); (3) high-Mg, Cr, Ti (Grib pipe).     

Polyphase hydrocarbon inclusions in garnet from the Mir diamondiferous pipe

The garnet nodules from the enrichment concentrate of the Mir kimberlite pipe, which have different saturation levels of regularly oriented mineral and primary polyphase fluid inclusions, are investigated. The garnets that contain inclusions are classified in the grossular-almandine-pyrope series and are usually characterized by an increased content of Si, Mg, Al, and the absence of Fe³⁺. The polyphase fluid inclusions are studied using IR-Fourier- and Raman spectroscopy. The presence of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, H₂O and CO₂ is established in their structure, which indicates the hydrocarbon specific character of fluids that participate in the processes of deep mineral formation.     

Peculiarities of diamonds from the commercial deposits of Russia

Although diamonds from the kimberlite pipes and bodies of various provinces have similar features they differ considerably in a number of characteristics. New generalized data on the morphology, structure peculiarities, and physical properties of diamonds from the Arkhangelsk and Yakutsk diamondiferous provinces obtained by the authors based on the results of original investigations supplemented by information from the other sources are discussed in this paper.     

Interaction of Titanium Minerals and Their Melts with Diamond-Forming Media (Experiments at 7–8 GPa)

Melting relations in the multicomponent diamond-forming systems of the upper mantle with a boundary of K–Na–Mg–Fe–Ca carbonate, phases of the model peridotite and eclogite, carbon, and titanium minerals from kimberlite (ilmenite FeTiO₃, perovskite CaTiO₃, and rutile TiO₂) were studied experimentally at 7–8 GPa and 1600–1650°C. Perovskite reacts with the formation of rutile in the diamond-forming silicate–carbonate melts. We discovered liquid immiscibility between melts of titanium minerals, on the one hand, and carbonate–carbon, peridotite–carbonate–carbon, and eclogite–carbonate–carbon diamond-forming melts, on the other. The solubility of titanium mineral in diamond-forming melts is negligible independent of their concentration in the experimental systems. Growth melts retain high diamond-forming efficiency. In general, the experimental results are evident for the xenogenic nature of titanium minerals in inclusions in diamond and, therefore, in diamond-forming melts. It is shown that the physicochemical factors that may correlate the diamond content with the concentration of Ti in kimberlite do not occur during the diamond genesis in silicate–carbonate–carbon parental melts containing titanium minerals and their melts.     

Diamond industry wastes: Mineral composition and recycling

Samples from eighteen kimberlitic bodies of Russia (Archangelsk and Yakutia provinces) and China (Liaonin and Shandong provinces) were investigated. All investigated kimberlites were subdivided into four mineralogical-technological types, according to the data obtained: (1) rocks with dominant saponite (Chidviya and Lomonosov pipes), (2) high-serpentine rocks (Snegopadnaya, Aikhal, Dalnyaya, and Udachnaya pipes), (3) rocks with high levels of carbonate and phlogopite (Chernyshevsk and Botuoba pipes), and (4) rocks with a complex mixed structures (Morkoka, 23 S”ezd KPSS, Nyurba, Mir pipes and pipes of China). A recycling scheme is offered for each type of kimberlitic rocks.     

Magnetomineralogy of Botswana kimberlites

Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth - The magnetic properties and mineralogy of kimberlites from four pipes (BK53, BK56, AK08, and AK06) in Botswana are studied. It is shown that magnetic...     

M·V·罗蒙诺索夫金刚石矿床的某些特征(英文)

Ｍ·Ｖ·罗蒙诺索夫金刚石矿床位于阿尔罕格尔斯克金伯利岩省之内,地处东欧地台、波罗的海地盾和俄罗斯地台与文德—寒武纪活化的阿尔罕格尔构造带交接的部位。据Ｋ Ａｒ法定年,该矿床形成时代为（３５５±１０）Ｍａ,其它地质证据亦表明金伯利岩岩体形成时代介于上泥盆纪和中石炭纪之间。该矿床可划分出４个金伯利岩田,即Ｚｏｌｏｔｉｔｓｋｏｙｅ,Ｋｅｐｉｎｓｋｏｙｅ,Ｖｅｒｈｏｔｉｎ ｓｋｏｙｅ和Ｍｅｌｓｋｏｙｅ。按照深度,该床存在两类岩相,即火山角砾岩筒相和火山口相。两类岩相所产出的岩石类型有所不同,深度不同、蚀变类型也不同。金伯利岩矿物成分主要为金云母、铬尖晶石、铬透辉石、石榴子石和镁钛铁矿等。该矿床的金刚石晶体有不同形态,但以菱形十二面体最为常见,当粒度小于０５ｍｍ时,八面体形态金刚石增多,但无经济价值。在阿尔罕格尔岩省找到Ｍ·Ｖ·罗蒙诺索夫矿床是２０世纪的一大发现,它的金伯利岩成分稳定,内部构造相对简单并含有大量宝石级的金刚石。