ISSN 1028334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2012, Vol. 445, Part 2, pp. 1003–1005. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2012.

Original Russian Text © S.K. Simakov, 2012, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2012, Vol. 445, No. 5, pp. 582–584.

GEOCHEMISTRY

A New Garnet Thermometer for Mantle Peridotites

and Estimation of the Diamond Potential on Its Basis
S. K. Simakov
Presented by Academician N.V. Sobolev December 26, 2011

Received February 27, 2012

DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X12060189

The elaboration of monomineral thermobarome methods of temperature estimation for peridotitic cli
ters based on the composition of one phase is a chal nopyroxenes on the basis of the Ca/Mg ratio [5]. The
lenging task in modern petrology. This is because Ca/Mg ratio in clinopyroxene may be obtained from
xenoliths are lacking or rare, and only xenocrysts are the same relationship in garnet [14]:
available in many mantlederived rocks. Prospecting Grt
ln ( ( Ca/Mg ) /0.2476 )
Cpx
and exploration for diamonds are commonly con ( Ca/Mg )= . (1)
ducted with separate grains of mantlederived associ 1.2406
ated minerals. The estimation of their formation tem Thus, based on the composition of garnet and using
perature is important both for theoretical petrology equation (1), we may obtain the Ca/Mg ratio in cli
and applied purposes. The methods of temperature nopyroxene and estimate the temperature of the for
estimation by nickel concentration in garnet are
known [13]; however, their application requires addi
tional expensive ion–proton analyses. T − Texp, °C
300
Relationships between the compositions of peri
dotitic garnets and clinopyroxenes are demonstrated 40
in [14]. On the other hand, currently there are several 200
35

T − Texp, °C 100 32
250
[1] [6] [12] [15]
0
150

50 −100

−50 −200

−150
−300
8 12 16 20 24 28 32
−250 Alm/Pyr, %
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Texp, °C
Fig. 2. Deviations of temperatures calculated by our
method from experimental temperatures depending on the
Fig. 1. Deviation of temperatures calculated by our iron content and pressure in the system (the solid line indi
method depending on the experimental temperatures cates the data of experiments [6]; dashed line, experiments
(analyses for the calculations are taken from [1, 6, 12, 15]). of [15]; numerals denote pressure, kbar).

Scientific Research Enterprise JointStock Company ALROSA, Saint Petersburg

email: simakov@ap1250.spb.ru

1003
1004 SIMAKOV

P, kbar
80 (a) (b)

60

40

1 1
20
2 2

0
600 800 1000 1200 1400 800 1000 1200 1400
T, °C
Fig. 3. Results of calculation of the temperature and pressure for peridotitic xenoliths: (a) Obnazhennaya (1) and Udachnaya (2)
pipes; (b) pipe 200, North Lesotho (1) and Premier (2) in relation to the line of the graphite–diamond equilibrium. Analyses were
taken from [3, 4, 7, 9]; pressures are calculated by the method of [13].

P, kbar
80
(a) (b)

60

40

20 1
2

0
500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500
T, °C

Fig. 4. Results of the calculation of temperature and pressure for pyrope xenocrysts from the diamondbearing Diavik pipe (Slave
Craton, Canada) (1) and diamondfree kimberlitic bodies from Northern Alberta (2) in relation to the line of graphite–diamond
equilibrium by our method (a) and [13] by the concentration of Ni (b) (analyses were taken from [8, 10]; pressures were calculated
by the method of [13]).

mation of the probably existing garnet–clinopyrox
ene–orthopyroxene paragenesis. It is evident from the
experimental data [5] and the dependence of the com
positions of garnet and clinopyroxene (1) that the
most reliable area of applicability of such a method
corresponds to garnet compositions with a Ca/Mg
ratio from 0.2 to 0.5. The accuracy of such a thermom
eter was estimated for peridotitic parageneses of the
corresponding compositions obtained experimentally
in the range of 900–1500°С and 20–60 kbar [1, 6, 12,
15] (a total of 59 analyses). As is evident from Fig. 1,
most analyses plot in the area of 100°С, and the
method has an accuracy of 1σ = 95°С and Δ (average) =
86°C for temperatures in the range of 1000–1300°C
corresponding to the temperatures of formation of
most mantle pyropes.
It is demonstrated in [11] that the ratio Ca/(Ca + Mg)
and consequently the accuracy of temperature estima
tion in the Cpx thermometry are controlled by the iron
concentration and pressure variations. On the other
hand, it is known that the concentration of Fe in Cpx
is controlled by the concentration of Fe in coexisting
Grt [14]. According to the experimental data, a linear
dependence between temperature and iron concentra
tion in Grt is observed (Fig. 2), and it is known from
the mineralogy of diamond parageneses and garnet
barometry that pressure influences the Cr/Ca ratio in
garnet [2, 13]. Thus, we may introduce the tempera
ture correction for pressure and iron content in the
system expressed by the following equation:
ΔT = A ( Cr/Ca ) + B ( Fe/Mg ). (2)
We applied this method to estimate the Р–Т
parameters of the formation of diamondbearing and
diamondfree peridotite xenoliths from Yakutian and
South African kimberlites (the known garnet barome
ter [13] was applied for pressure calculation). Increase

DOKLADY EARTH SCIENCES Vol. 445 Part 2 2012

 A NEW GARNET THERMOMETER FOR MANTLE PERIDOTITES
of depth is observed for Yakutian xenoliths from the
diamondfree Obnazhennaya pipe to the diamond
bearing Udachnaya pipe (Fig. 3a). The analogous ten
dency is also observed for South African pipes: the
depth increases from depleted xenoliths of pipe 200
from Northern Lesotho to the lherzolitic nodules of
the diamondbearing Premier pipe (Fig. 3b). The per
formed calculations provide temperatures comparable
with other methods applied for these objects [14].
The suggested method was also compared with the
method of Ryan [13], which determines the tempera
ture in garnet by the concentration of Ni in garnet
from the example of garnets from diamondbearing
and diamondfree kimberlitic bodies of Canada. The
results obtained (Fig. 4) provide evidence for compa
rability of the results and for the possibility of applica
tion of our method for separation of diamondbearing
and diamondfree bodies.
As is evident from the results obtained, the sug
gested model of the Ca–Mg–Fe–Cr thermometer
allows us to estimate the temperatures of formation of
deepseated pyrope xenocrysts, corresponds to the
necessary petrological criteria, and may be applied for
estimation of the diamond potential of mantle objects.
AKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is grateful to G.P. Bulanova, D.V. Do
livoDobrovol’skii and K. Smith for remarks and help
ful advices during discussion of the paper.
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