Kimberlite pre-conditioning of the lithospheric mantle and implications for diamond survival: a case study of olivine and mantle xenocrysts from the Koidu mine (Sierra Leone)

Abstract

The diamond potential of kimberlites is generally determined using indicator minerals (i.e., xenocrysts), entrained by the parent magma while ascending through the sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). It is becoming increasingly apparent that olivine can also be used to understand mantle sampling depth, using the Al-in-olivine thermometer, and to constrain the extent of diamond-destructive metasomatism in the SCLM. To further current understanding of vertical sampling and diamond preservation in the SCLM, we present geochemical results for kimberlitic olivine of the Koidu mine (Sierra Leone). We combine our olivine data with pressure-temperature estimates from available olivine diamond inclusions, clinopyroxene xenocrysts, and eclogite xenoliths to visualise the vertical distribution of lithologies in the SCLM beneath Koidu. In agreement with the absence of peridotitic olivine and low abundance of olivine diamond inclusions in the lower SCLM, megacrysts appear to dominate the material sampled from the lowermost lithosphere. At shallower levels a distinct eclogite-dominated region is observed (160-180 km) whereas the SCLM at depths of 110-150 km is heterogeneous comprising depleted harzburgite/dunite, lherzolite, and eclogite. Diamonds are predominantly eclogitic with pressure-temperature estimates for diamondiferous eclogites of 150-190 km within the eclogite-dominated region. The near absence of diamonds sampled from near the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is attributed to diamond destruction by extensive infiltration of proto-kimberlite melts leading to metasomatism of the eclogite and peridotite substrate and megacrysts formation. Widespread metasomatism of the deepest reaches of the SCLM sampled by kimberlites elsewhere suggests that Koidu does not represent an isolated case and the extent of diamond-destructive metasomatism can be constrained using olivine xenocrysts.