Isomorphic sodium admixture in garnets formed at high pressures

Na₂O contents were determined by electron microprobe analysis in 124 garnets from diamonds, xenoliths of peridotites, eclogites from kimberlitic pipes and metamorphic complexes. Na₂O content ranges between 0.01 and 0.22% with the limit of detection at about 0.01%. In the garnets of diamond-bearing eclogites and orange garnets from diamonds a regular increase in the Na₂O content has been established, varying from 0.09 to 0.22, as compared to garnets from eclogites of metamorphic complexes (range 0.01 to 0.06). It is assumed that the increased Na₂O content in the garnets of eclogites is mainly connected with higher pressure, whereas isomorphism of sodium is connected with the initial stages of the transition from Si⁴ to Si⁶ in the garnet structure: CaAlNaSi.The study of the sodium content of garnets has shown that all the orange-coloured garnets from diamonds so far studied are related to eclogite assemblage. Determination of the Na₂O content of individual inclusions of chrome pyropes from diamonds permits a conclusion on the type of assemblage (with or without clinopyroxene). Proceeding from these data, the importance of garnet-olivine paragenesis within the stability field of diamond has been revealed.Some clear distinctions in the sodium content of the garnets from xenoliths of the kyanite eclogites from the Zagadochnaya pipe in Yakutia and the Roberts Victor mine in South Africa confirm the relation of these eclogites to different subfacies.A conclusion is drawn as to the possibility of utilizing the Na/Na+Ca distribution in the garnets and pyroxenes of eclogites of especially deep-seated origin as a pressure indicator and to the necessity for experimental testing of the dependence of the distribution of these elements in garnets and pyroxenes on pressure, presumably in the range of 30–100 kbars.