Tychite in mantle xenoliths from kimberlites: The first find and a new genetic type

Tychite Na₆Mg₂(CO₃)₄(SO₃) is a rare natural Na and Mg sulfatocarbonate. It is found only as minor mineral in deposits of saline lakes in the United States, Canada, Uganda, and China. In these continental evaporites tychite has sedimentary genesis. In this study, we report the first occurrence of tychite as a crystal phase in the melt inclusions in olivine from mantle xenoliths of the Udachnaya-East kimberlite pipe. This find provides an evidence for the probability of tychite crystallization from melts; i.e., this rare sulfatocarbonate may have a magmatic origin as well.     

The Mechanism of Disordered Graphite Formation in UHP Diamond-Bearing Complexes

Doklady Earth Sciences - Kyanite gneiss from the “New Barchinsky” locality (Kokchetav Massif) was studied in detail. This rock is characterized by zonal distribution of the C and SiO2...     

Discussion: “Xenoliths in ultrapotassic volcanic rocks in the Lhasa block: direct evidence for crust–mantle mixing and metamorphism in the deep crust” by Wang et al. 2016 (Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology) 171:62

Wang et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 171:62, 2016a) present data on composition of xenolith from Southern Tibet and conclude that ulrapotassic melts from the region formed by melting mantle, and complex interaction with a crustal component. In this discussion we demonstrate that numerous observations presented by Wang et al. (2016a) can be explained by partial melting of crust followed by interaction between that melt and the mantle. We show that this model can explain the variability of magmas in such suits without evoking occurrence of coincidental, unrelated events. Moreover we demonstrate that our model of a crustal origin of the proto-shoshonite melts is now supported by independent lines of evidence such as geochemistry of restites after high- and ultrahigh- pressure melting and melt inclusion studies.     

Two contrasting petrotectonic domains in the Kokchetav megamélange (north Kazakhstan): Difference in exhumation mechanisms of ultrahigh‐pressure crustal rocks,or a result of subsequent deformation?

Abstract In northern Kazakhstan the WNW striking Kokchetav megamélange includes different crustal sequences with high‐pressure/ultrahigh‐pressure (HP/UHP) remnants of their 540–520 Ma subduction metamorphism. Two domains separated by the north‐east trending Chaglinka fault are distinguished. The western domain exhibits NE–SW structures within a single Kumdy–Kol megaunit of diamond‐bearing UHP metasediments and high‐temperature (HT) eclogites. The eastern domain consists of the composite Kulet megaunit with the Kulet UHP unit (coesite‐bearing metasediments, whiteschists and eclogites), the Enbek–Berlyk medium‐pressure (MP) unit (kyanite‐bearing, high‐alumina rocks with interleaved coronitic metagabbro), and ortho‐ and paragneisses with eclogites and amphibolites included. All eclogites in the eastern domain are of the relatively low temperature (LT) type. Sillimanite is common and appears after kyanite in the sheared MP unit. A regional and moderately ESE plunging linear fabric coincides with the fold‐axis of the foliation poles from the eastern domain. Whether this also reflects a regional top to the WNW transport, as inferred from the dextral strike‐slip on steeply to SSW dipping foliation, needs further study. Top to the WNW shear is shown by weakly inclined low pressure (LP) cordierite rocks that flank the eastern domain in the south. Some new ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar mica cooling ages (519, 521 Ma) from the Kulet UHP micaschists reflect the same early stage evolutionary event as was previously shown for the Kumdy–Kol UHP rocks (515, 517 Ma) in the west. Similar ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar ages (500, 517 Ma) are recorded by micas and amphibole that outline a top to NNW shear fabric in the non‐subducted Proterozoic basement, north of the megamélange. A 447 Ma overprint of the MP sequences is considered to reflect the strike‐slip deformation with sillimanite and the reworking of an early kyanite‐bearing tectonite. Biotites from the LP cordierite rocks yielded approximately 400 Ma ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar ages. In case they reflect the WNW shear deformation, the latter is considered to be associated with a regional granite magmatism (420–460 Ma) extending south of the eastern domain. In their present different structural domains the Kulet and Kumdy–Kol UHP units display a similar early stage event. Subsequent LP deformation, which is likely to be associated with regional granite magmatism (420–460 Ma), is assumed to have obliterated any common or uniform early exhumation structure for the whole megamélange. The north‐east structured Kumdy–Kol domain is assumed to have preserved the most information about the early stage exhumation. This domain is at an angle to the regional WNW strike of the megamélange.     

Age and thermal history of the Maksyutov metamorphic complex: 40Ar/39Ar evidence

The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method with stepwise heating was used to date phengite and glaucophane in the contact zone of garnet glaucophanite an omphacite-garnet rock (eclogite) from the lower unit of the Maksyutov metamorphic complex. The correlation of the measured age and the sizes of the phengite flakes indicates that the behavior of radiogenic Ar in them was controlled by the mechanisms of volumetric diffusion. Taking into account the fact that all of the rocks have the same thermal history, the dates most close to the age of metamorphism are those of the largest phengite flakes from garnet glaucophanite: 392 Ma. The age values obtained on phengite from an omphacite-garnet rock sampled at the maximum distance from the contact are equal to 378 Ma and correspond to the time when the rocks cooled to temperatures below 350°C. The results of numerical simulations indicate that the metamorphic age is no younger than 400 Ma, and the linear cooling rate can be estimated at 3.40 ?0.75/+1.24°C/m.y. The maximum values of the phengite ages are consistent with the dates of glaucophane from three rock samples: 389–411 Ma.     

Intergranular diamonds derived from partial melting of crustal rocks at ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic conditions

By reporting for the first time intergranular diamond in quartz–feldspar (Qtz–Kfs) aggregates, the processes of metamorphic diamond formation have to be reconsidered. Based on their Kfs/Qtz ratio, the texture of these aggregates are proposed to result from ‘granitic’ melt with a calculated composition that corresponds well with that of experimental data for the pelitic system. Taking into account experiments on CO₂ solubility in silicate melt under ultrahigh‐pressure conditions, a granitic melt is further suggested to act as a crystallization medium as well as a transport medium for producing metamorphic diamond.     

Simultaneous observations of the natural electromagnetic emission in the ELF-VLF range at Kamchatka and in Yakutia during the solar eclipse of August 1, 2008

The effect of the solar eclipse that occurred on August 1, 2008, on the level of the natural electro-magnetic emission signals in the ELF-VLF range, simultaneously observed at Kamchatka and in Yakutsk, and the variations in the amplitude and phase of signals from the VLF radiostations, registered in Yakutsk, has been considered. The VLF radiostations in Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, and Khabarovsk successively emitted signals at frequencies of 11 905, 12 649, and 14 880 Hz. Based on the observations of the signals from these radiostations, it has been established that the signal amplitudes and phases increased by 3–5% and 30°–45° when the signals crossed the lunar shadow region. The synchronous registration of the ELF-VLF noise emission indicated that a bay-like increase and the following decrease in the emission to the background level was observed at both receiving points during the eclipse from ∼1000 to 1130 UT. This effect was registered at frequencies of 0.6–5.6 kHz in Yakutsk and at lower (30–200 Hz) and higher (2.5–11 kHz) frequencies at Kamchatka. In this case the noise emission intensity maximum was observed when the lunar shadow maximally approached the registration point. At higher frequencies, the emission maximum was observed simultaneously at both points (at 1100 UT) but with a delay relative to the maximum at lower frequencies. The possible causes of the appearance of the solar eclipse effects in the natural ELF-VLF emission are considered.     

Geochemistry of ultrahigh-pressure anatexis: fractionation of elements in the Kokchetav gneisses during melting at diamond-facies conditions

The Kokchetav complex in Kazakhstan contains garnet-bearing gneisses that formed by partial melting of metasedimentary rocks at ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) conditions. Partial melting and melt extraction from these rocks is documented by a decrease in K₂O and an increase in FeO + MgO in the restites. The most characteristic trace element feature of the Kokchetav UHP restites is a strong depletion in light rare earth elements (LREE), Th and U. This is attributed to complete dissolution of monazite/allanite in the melt and variable degree of melt extraction. In contrast, Zr concentrations remain approximately constant in all gneisses. Using experimentally determined solubilities of LREE and Zr in high-pressure melts, these data constrain the temperature of melting to ~1,000 °C. Large ion lithophile elements (LILE) are only moderately depleted in the samples that have the lowest U, Th and LREE contents, indicating that phengite retains some LILE in the residue. Some restites display an increase in Nb/Ta with respect to the protolith. This further suggests the presence of phengite, which, in contrast to rutile, preferentially incorporates Nb over Ta. The trace element fractionation observed during UHP anatexis in the Kokchetav gneisses is significantly different from depletions reported in low-pressure restites, where generally no LREE and Th depletion occurs. Melting at UHP conditions resulted in an increase in the Sm/Nd ratio and a decoupling of the Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf systems in the restite. Further subduction of such restites and mixing with mantle rocks might thus lead to a distinct isotopic reservoir different from the bulk continental crust.