Co-existing fluid and silicate inclusions in mantle diamond

We document the compositions of co-existing silicate macro-inclusions and fluid micro-inclusions in the fibrous coats of eight coated diamonds from the Panda kimberlite (Canada). The mineral inclusions in the diamond coats come from either the peridotite suite (Cr-pyrope, orthopyroxene, olivine and Cr-diopside) or the eclogite suite (omphacite). Therefore, fibrous diamonds grow in the same paragenetic environments as octahedral diamonds. The inclusions document a more fertile source composition (lower Mg# and higher CaO) than for equivalent phases in octahedral diamonds from Panda and worldwide. However, moderate to high Cr₂O₃ contents in garnet and clinopyroxene inclusions suggest that this apparent fertility is due to a secondary process. Geothermometry of the silicate inclusions yields low equilibration temperatures of 930 to 1010 °C. The co-existing fluid micro-inclusions are dominated by H₂O, carbonate and KCl. Fluid inclusions in both the peridotitic and eclogitic samples fall along linear arrays between Fe-Ca-Mg carbonate and KCl. Inclusions in the one eclogitic sample also contain quartz. We suggest that the diamonds have trapped both metasomatised minerals and the metasomatic fluid, and so provide a snap shot of a metasomatic event in the mantle.