A. A. Nosova

Kimberlites and lamproites of the East European Platform: Petrology and geochemistry

Several episodes of kimberlite magmatism occurred in the East European Province (EEP) during a long (about 1.5 Gyr) time period, from the Late Paleoproterozoic (ca. 1.8 Ga) in the Archean Ukrainian and Baltic shields to the Middle Paleozoic (ca. 0.36 Ga) mainly in the Arkhangelsk, Timan, and adjacent regions. Based on the analysis of data on 16 kimberlite occurrences and four lamproite occurrences within the EEP, five time stages can be distinguished; one of them, the Middle Paleozoic stage (Middle Ordovician and Devonian), is the most productive epoch for diamond in the northern hemisphere (EEP, Siberian Craton, and part of the China Craton). The analysis of petrological and geochemical characteristics of kimberlites (lamproites were studied less thoroughly) revealed variations in rock composition and their correlation with a number of factors, including the spatial confinement to the northern or southern Archean blocks of the craton, time of formation of the source of kimberlite melts, contents of volatiles and autoliths, etc. Three petrogeochemical types of kimberlites were distinguished: high-, medium-, and low-Ti (TiO2 > 3 wt %, 1–3 wt %, and <1 wt %, respectively). There are two time intervals of the formation of kimberlite and lamproite sources in the EEP, corresponding to TNd(DM) values of about 2 Ga (up to 2.9 Ga in the Por’ya Guba occurrence) and 1 Ga. The latter interval includes two groups of occurrences with model source ages of about 1 Ga (low-and medium-Ti kimberlites of the Zolotitsa and Verkhotina occurrences) and about 0.8 Ga (high-Ti kimberlites of the Kepino and a number of other occurrences); i.e., there seems to be an evolutionary trend in the composition of kimberlites. Concentric zoning patterns were recognized. The role of the crust in kimberlite sources is discussed; it is assumed that buried remnants of the oceanic lithosphere (megaliths) may underlie whole continents. A unique feature of the composition of low-Ti kimberlites, for instance, kimberlites of the Zolotitsa occurrence (to a smaller extent, medium-Ti kimberlites of the V. Grib pipe) is the distinct depletion of highly charged elements and pronounced negative anomalies of Ti, Zr, Th, U, Nb, and Ta in trace-element distribution patterns, which indicates a contribution of crustal material to the source of these kimberlites. It was shown that autoliths exert a significant influence on the differentiation of kimberlite material, resulting in the enrichment of rocks in the whole spectrum of incompatible elements. It was argued that geochemical criteria can be used together with traditional criteria (including those based on indicator minerals) for the assessment of diamond potential in EEP occurrences. We hope that such a combined approach will yield important outcomes in the future.

Neoproterozoic Volhynia-Brest magmatic province in the western East European craton: Within-plate magmatism in an ancient suture zone

The reasons for the isotopic and geochemical heterogeneity of magmatism of the Neoproterozoic large Volhynia-Brest igneous province (VBP) are considered. The province was formed at 550 Ma in response to the break up of the Rodinia supercontinent and extends along the western margin of the East European craton, being discordant to the Paleoproterozoic mobile zone that separates Sarmatia and Fennoscandia and the Mesoproterozoic Volhynia-Orsha aulacogen. The basalts of VBP show prominent spatiotemporal geochemical zoning. Based on petrographic, mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic data, the following types of basalts can be distinguished: olivine-normative subalkaline basalts consisting of low-Ti (sLT, < 1.10–2.0 wt % TiO2; εNd(550) from −6.6 to −2.7) and medium-Ti (sMT, 2.0–3.0 wt % TiO2, occasionally up to 3.6 wt % TiO2; εNd(550) from −3.55 to + 0.6) varieties; normal quartz-normative basalts (tholeiites) including low-Ti (tLT, < 1.75–2.0 wt % TiO2) and medium-to-high-Ti (tHT1, 2.0–3.6 wt % TiO2, εNd(550) from −1.3 to + 1.0) varieties. The hypabyssal bodies are made up of subalkaline low-Ti olivine dolerites (LT, 1.2–1.5 wt % TiO2; εNd(550) = −5.8) and subalkaline high-Ti olivine gabbrodolerites (HT2, 3.0–4.5 wt % TiO2; εNd(550) = −2.5). Felsic rocks of VBP are classed as volcanic rocks of normal (andesidacites, dacites, and rhyodacites) and subalkaline (trachyrhyodacites) series with TiO2 0.72–0.77 wt% and εNd(550) of −12. The central part of VBP is underlain by a Paleoproterozoic domain formed by continent-arc accretion and contains widespread sills of HT2 dolerites and lavas of LT basalts; the northern part of the province is underlain by the juvenile Paleoproterozoic crust dominated by MT and HT1 basalts. MT and LT basalts underwent significant AFC-style upper crustal contamination. During their long residence in the upper crustal magmatic chambers, the basaltic melts fractionated and caused notable heating of the wall rocks and, correspondingly, nonmodal melting of the upper crustal protolith containing high-Rb phase (biotite), thus producing the most felsic rocks of the province. The basalts of VBP were derived from geochemically different sources: probably, the lithosphere and a deep-seated plume (PREMA type). The HT2 dolerites were generated mainly from a lithospheric source: by 3–4% melting of the geochemically enriched garnet lherzolite mantle. LT dolerites were obtained by partial melting of the modally metasomatized mantle containing volatile-bearing phases. The concepts of VBP formation were summarized in the model of three-stage plume-lithosphere interaction.

Olivine from the Pionerskaya and V. Grib kimberlite pipes, Arkhangelsk diamond province, Russia: Types, composition, and origin

We report the first systematic study of different textural varieties of olivine (olivine from peridotite xenoliths, macrocryst-type Ol-I, and phenocryst-type zoned Ol-II) from two diamondiferous kimberlite pipes of the Arkhangelsk diamond province (V. Grib and Pionerskaya) differing in geologic setting, geochemical and isotopic characteristics, and diamond content. Approximately 550 olivine analyses were obtained by the EPMA technique using the precise method of Sobolev et al. (2007) adapted at the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences (Kargin et al., 2014). Olivines from the V. Grib moderate-Ti kimberlites, which are similar to Group I kimberlites in geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics and rich in diamond, are dominated by high-Mg# low-Ti Ol-I formed owing to the fractional crystallization of a carbonate-rich protokimberlite melt interacting with orthopyroxene-bearing peridotite material; the fraction of high-Ti Ol-I produced by the metasomatic alteration of peridotite under the influence of silicate aqueous fluids is significantly lower; and xenocrysts weakly affected by metasomatic agents (melts and fluids) occur in minor amounts. Olivines from the low-Ti Pionerskaya kimberlites, which are similar to Group II kimberlites in geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics and show a moderate diamond content, are dominated by high-Ti Ol-I, and xenocrysts weakly affected by metasomatic agents are also abundant. In the kimberlites of both pipes, the cores of Ol-II crystals are usually composed of low-Ti olivine similar in composition to Ol-I; both high-Ti and low-Ti olivine cores occur in the Pionerskaya pipe; whereas cores corresponding to high-Ti Ol-I were never found in the V. Grib pipe. The outer zones of olivine and small olivine grains in the groundmass show considerable variations in minor element contents within a narrow Mg# range. It is suggested that the high-Ti rims of Ol-II from the V. Grib and Pionerskaya kimberlites were produced by the late crystallization of kimberlite melt, and the low-Ti rims on the outer zones of Ol-II in the Pionerskaya kimberlites were formed by late-stage equilibration with an aqueous fluid separated from the kimberlite melt and/or possible kinetic effects. Our study revealed the diversity of olivine origin in the kimberlites and showed that there is no single mechanism of olivine formation.

Mg-ilmenite megacrysts from the Arkhangelsk kimberlites, Russia: Genesis and interaction with kimberlite melt and postkimberlite fluid

In the present work we studied Mg-ilmenite megacrysts from the Arkhangelsk kimberlites (the Kepino kimberlite field and mantle xenoliths from the Grib pipe). On the basis of isotopic (Rb/Sr, Sm/Nd, δ18O) and trace-element data we argue that studied Mg-ilmenite megacrysts have a genetic relation to the “protokimberlitic” magma, which was parental to the host kimberlites. Rb-Sr ages measured on phlogopite from ilmenite-clinopyroxenite xenoliths and the host Grib kimberlite overlap within the error (384 Ma and 372 ± 8 Ma, respectively; Shevchenko et al., 2004) with our estimation of the Kotuga kimberlite emplacement (378 ± 25 Ma). Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of megacrysts are close to the isotopic composition of host kimberlites (Mg-ilmenites from kimberlites have 87Sr/86Sr(t = 384) = 0.7050–0.7063, ɛNd(t = 384) = + 1.7, +1.8, ilmenite from ilmenite-garnet clinopyroxenite xenolith has 87Sr/86St(t = 384) = 0.7049, ɛNd(t = 384) = +3.5). Oxygen isotopic composition of ilmenites (δ18O = +3.8–+4.5‰) is relatively “light” in comparison with the values for mantle minerals (δ18O = +5–+6‰). Taking into account ilmenite-melt isotope fractionation, these values of δ18O indicate that ilmenites could crystallize from the “protokimberlitic” melt. Temperatures and redox conditions during the formation of ilmenite reaction rims were estimated using ilmenite-rutile and titanomagnetite-ilmenite thermo-oxybarometers. New minerals within the rims crystallized at increasing oxygen fugacity and decreasing temperature. Spinels precipitated during the interaction of ilmenite with kimberlitic melt at T = 1000–1100°C and oxygen fugacity

Compositional variations in kimberlites of the east european platform as a manifestation of sublithospheric geodynamic processes

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Kimberlite age in the Arkhangelsk Province, Russia: Isotopic geochronologic Rb–Sr and 40Ar/39Ar and mineralogical data on phlogopite

[QFM] ≈ 1. Rims comprised with rutile and titanomagnetite crystallized at T ≈ 1100°C,

Devonian ultramafic lamprophyre in the Irkineeva–Chadobets trough in the southwest of the Siberian Platform: Age, composition, and implications for diamond potential prediction

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