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Formation of unusual yellow Orapa diamonds

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Abstract

Twenty eclogitic diamonds from Orapa Mine (Botswana) with an unusual yellow colour are characterised for their growth structure, N systematics, and C isotope composition, and the major element composition of their silicate inclusions. The diamonds show complex luminescence with green, blue and non-luminescent zones and occasional sector zonation. All parts of the diamonds have low total N concentrations (<50 at.ppm, with one exception of <125 at.ppm) and a limited range in C isotope composition (−5.7 to −10.6‰). Fourier Transform Infrared spectra show bands at 1334, 1332, 1282, and 1240 cm−1 typical for Ib-IaA diamonds. Relict unaggregated N defects (Nso and Ns+) are present and the preservation is likely caused by the low N concentrations and possible low mantle residence temperatures rather than young diamond formation (inclusion ages of 140, 1096, 1699 Ma; Timmerman et al. Earth Planet Sc Lett 463:178–188, 2017). Garnet and clinopyroxene inclusions extracted from 14 diamonds have an eclogitic composition with relatively low Ca contents and based on all characteristics, these diamonds form a distinct population from Orapa.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sergei Matveev and Susan Verdegaal-Warmerdam for their help with the EPMA and SIRMS analyses respectively. John Freeth of De Beers Technologies UK is thanked for laser cutting and polishing the diamond plates. Debswana is thanked for the generous provision of diamonds for this study. We thank two anonymous reviewers and editor Thomas Stachel for constructive comments that greatly improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Suzette Timmerman & Gareth R. Davies

  2. De Beers Exploration, Private Bag X01, Southdale 2135, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Ingrid L. Chinn

  3. De Beers Technologies, Belmont Road, Maidenhead, SL6 6JW, UK

    David Fisher

Authors
  1. Suzette Timmerman
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  2. Ingrid L. Chinn
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  3. David Fisher
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  4. Gareth R. Davies
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suzette Timmerman.

Additional information

Editorial handling: T. Stachel

Electronic supplementary material

Electronic supplementary material 1

Photographs of the diamonds prior to polishing (PDF 314 kb)

Electronic supplementary material 2

DiamondView™ images of both sides of the polished plates (PDF 3.19 mb)

Electronic supplementary material 3

FTIR spectrum of each diamond in the one phonon region (PDF 621 kb)

Electronic supplementary material 4

Table of band height at 1282 cm−1 of the FTIR spectra (XLSX 13.1 kb)

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Timmerman, S., Chinn, I.L., Fisher, D. et al. Formation of unusual yellow Orapa diamonds. Miner Petrol 112 (Suppl 1), 209–218 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-018-0592-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-018-0592-9

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