NANOMETER-SIZE P/K-RICH SILICA GLASS (FORMER MELT) INCLUSIONS IN MICRODIAMOND FROM THE GNEISSES OF KOKCHETAV AND ERZGEBIRGE MASSIFS: DIVERSIFIED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FORMATION MEDIA OF METAMORPHIC MICRODIAMOND IN UHP ROCKS DUE TO HOST-ROCK BUFFERING

Abstract

Nanometer-size P/K-rich silica glass (former melt) inclusions were identified within metamorphic microdiamonds from garnets of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) gneisses of the Kokchetav and the Erzgebirge massifs by analytical electron microscopy (AEM). The chemical characteristics of these inclusions within microdiamonds are surprisingly similar among various gneissic rocks from both Kokchetav and Erzgebirge, but are significantly different from the Si-poor ultrapotassic fluid inclusions within microdiamonds from garnets of the Kokchetav UHP marble. These contrasting findings not only provide constraints on the characteristics/compositions of the formation media of metamorphic microdiamonds, but also imply that the formation media must have been buffered by the hosting rocks, resulting in the observed diversities as reported here. In addition, depending on the rock types and thus on the nature of the formation media from which metamorphic microdiamonds were formed, the respective characteristic morphologies of the microdiamonds differ. The P/K-rich silica melt tends to form octahedral or cubo-octahedral microdiamonds within garnet in gneissic rocks, whereas the Si-poor ultrapotassic fluid tends to form spheroids/ cuboid microdiamonds with rugged surfaces within garnet in marble. Consequently, the buffered media in hosting rocks played a decisive role in determining the different morphologies and growth rates/mechanisms of metamorphic microdiamonds in general. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.