Wed 15th September 2021 @ 12:00 nn in 312.222 and online via Webex (meeting #: 1704 36 9616 and password: yD3iDJe4cK5)
Abstract:
Rare oceanic diamonds are believed to have a mantle transition zone origin like super-deep continental diamonds. However, oceanic diamonds have a homogeneous and organic-like light carbon isotope signature (δ13C − 28 to − 20‰) instead of the extremely variable organic to lithospheric mantle signature of super-deep continental diamonds (δ13C − 25‰ to + 3.5‰). Here, we show that with rare exceptions, oceanic diamonds and the isotopically lighter cores of super-deep continental diamonds share a common organic δ13C composition reflecting carbon brought down to the transition zone by subduction, whereas the rims of such super-deep continental diamonds have the same δ13C as peridotitic diamonds from the lithospheric mantle. Like lithospheric continental diamonds, almost all the known occurrences of oceanic diamonds are linked to plume-induced large igneous provinces or ocean islands, suggesting a common connection to mantle plumes. We argue that mantle plumes bring the transition zone diamonds to shallower levels, where only those emplaced at the base of the continental lithosphere might grow rims with lithospheric mantle carbon isotope signatures.
Short bio:
Luc comes from Bourg-en-Bresse, a small town in France famously known for its blue-white-red tricoloured (delicious) chickens. In March 2018, he joined the Earth Dynamics Research Group and works with Prof Li to decipher the present-day and past connections between Earth’s mantle, supercontinent and superocean cycles. With the help of other members of the Earth Dynamics Research Group, he reconstructs the geodynamic processes that made the Earth we know today.
