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Transmission X-ray diffraction as a new tool for diamond fluid inclusion studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

E. M. Smith*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T1Z4, Canada
M. G. Kopylova
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T1Z4, Canada
L. Dubrovinsky
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
O. Navon
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Israel
J. Ryder
Affiliation:
Dianor Resources Inc., 649 3rd Avenue, Val-d'Or, Quebec J9P 1S7, Canada
E. L. Tomlinson
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
*

Abstract

Transmission X-ray diffraction is demonstrated as a new tool for examining daughter minerals within sub-micrometre-size fluid inclusions in fibrous diamond. In transmission geometry, the X-ray beam passes through the sample, interacting with a volume of material. Fibrous diamonds from Mbuji-Mayi. Democratic Republic of Congo; the Wawa area, Ontario, Canada; and the Panda kimberlite, Ekati Mine, Northwest Territories and the Jericho kimberlite, Nunavut, Canada were analysed using X-rays from a high-brilliance lab source and a synchrotron source. Daughter minerals present include the mica-group mineral celadonite, sylvite, halite, dolomite and other carbonates. This represents the first positive identification of halide minerals in fibrous diamond. Mineral inclusions such as forsteritic olivine and pyrope garnet were also found. Unexpectedly, daughter minerals were identified in only ten of the 38 diamonds analysed, despite their concentrations being greater than experimentally proven detection limits. The presence of significant amounts of amorphous or dissolved material appears unlikely, but cannot be ruled out. Alternatively, the results may indicate a wide variety of related daughter minerals, such that most phases fall below the detection limits. Transmission X-ray diffraction should be applied cautiously to the study of fibrous diamond, as it provides an incomplete account of the fluid-inclusion mineralogy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2011

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