Extreme redox variations in a superdeep diamond from a subducted slab.

The introduction of volatile-rich subducting slabs to the mantle may locally generate large redox gradients, affecting phase stability, element partitioning and volatile speciation1. Here we investigate the redox conditions of the deep mantle recorded in inclusions in a diamond from Kankan, Guinea. Enstatite (former bridgmanite), ferropericlase and a uniquely Mg-rich olivine (Mg# 99.9) inclusion indicate formation in highly variable redox conditions near the 660 km seismic discontinuity. We propose a model involving dehydration, rehydration and dehydration in the underside of a warming slab at the transition zone-lower mantle boundary. Fluid liberated by dehydration in a crumpled slab, driven by heating from the lower mantle, ascends into the cooler interior of the slab, where the H2O is sequestered in new hydrous minerals. Consequent fractionation of the remaining fluid produces extremely reducing conditions, forming Mg-end-member ringwoodite. This fractionating fluid also precipitates the host diamond. With continued heating, ringwoodite in the slab surrounding the diamond forms bridgmanite and ferropericlase, which is trapped as the diamond grows in hydrous fluids produced by dehydration of the warming slab.

Dense hydrated Mg-silicates in diamond: Implications for transport of H2O into the mantle.

Water in Earth's upper mantle is a minor and yet critically important component that dictates mantle properties such as strength and melting behavior. Minerals with stoichiometric water, such as those of the humite group, are important yet poorly characterized potential reservoirs for volatiles in the upper mantle. Here, we report observation of hydroxyl members of the humite group as inclusions in mantle-derived diamond. Hydroxylchondrodite and hydroxylclinohumite were found coexisting with olivine, magnesiochromite, Mg-bearing calcite, dolomite, quartz, mica, and a djerfisherite-group mineral in a diamond from Brazil. The olivine is highly forsteritic (Mg# 97), with non-mantle-like oxygen isotope composition (δ18O +6.2‰), and is associated with fluid inclusions and hydrous minerals-features that could be inherited from a serpentinite protolith. Our results constitute direct evidence for the presence of deserpentinized peridotitic protoliths in subcratonic mantle keels, placing important constraints on the stability of hydrous phases in the mantle and the origin of diamond-forming fluids.