Reconstructions of mantle structure beneath the Anabar Shield kimberlites – Similarities and differences

Abstract

Comparisons of mantle xenocrysts from Lower Triassic kimberlites in the Anabar Shield (Ary-Mastakh, Dyuken, Kuranakh and Orto-Yargyn fields) have shown essential differences from the xenocrysts in the Olenek River Basin (Chomurdakh field). Xenoliths in the Anabar Shield and its northern fields are very rare; they include mainly garnet dunites and harzburgites, and less commonly, pyroxenites and eclogites.

PTXFO₂ diagram reconstructions for the Boomerang pipe in the Ary-Mastakh field located in the suture zone of the Daldyn and Magan terranes have used monomineral thermobarometry to show that the Opx in rare lherzolitic pyropes formed between 6 and 7.5 GPa. Eclogites represent the mantle heated to the middle pyroxenite layer, and in these terranes the formation of Cr-less pyroxenites are linked to plume melt interactions with the eclogites. In the Dyuken, Kuranakh and Orto-Yargyn fields, the garnet advective trend starts from 7.5 GPa, while the asthenosphere – lithosphere boundary is found at 6 GPa, suggesting that the middle pyroxenite layer was heated and metasomatized. The lower and particularly mid-mantle parts of these fields also contain abundant eclogites. In the Chomur field, lherzolitic and pyroxenitic pyropes form from 7 GPa, while the captured materials mainly represent the upper mantle (4 GPa). All pipes show a similar mantle layering, consisting of seven parts and determined by the clustering of PT estimates for garnets, Cr-spinels, and pyroxenes. In the Boomerang pipe, the Cr-clinopyroxenes and pyropes show REE spectra with varying fan-shaped slopes, (La/Yb)n of 10–100 for pyropes, and HREE for garnets. Spider diagrams reveal peaks for Th, and troughs for U, Nb, Ta, and Pb. Eclogitic garnets and omphacites show minimum values of Eu and Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf. REEs in ilmenites show a joint increase in LREE and HFSE for Mg to Fe-rich varieties with the degree of differentiation. Most depleted pyropes from Kuranakh have V-U shaped REE patterns, Ba and U peaks. The HFSE minima represents dunites from the arc and back-arc mantle, and the fertilization produces an increase in incompatible elements and sometimes large ion lithophile element (LILE) levels for lherzolitic pyropes. The pyroxenitic garnets display happed REE and the Cpx shows varying LILE and HFSE correlating with the (La/Yb)_n.

The Chomur pipe contains predominantly harzburgite-lherzolite garnets with minima Ba and Sr, in addition to various incompatible elements. Cpx shows similar variations with mainly depleted HFSE patterns. The marginal parts of the subcratonic lithospheric mantle (SCLM) of the Anabar Shield are extremely enriched in eclogitic deep-seated material. This is especially seen in the lower SCLM parts, demonstrating thermobarometric trends and features similar to the diamond inclusions from the Ebelyakh (Mayat) placers. The mantle column beneath several pipes (Los’, Universitetskaya, Kuranakh) contain Cr amphiboles distributed from the base of the lithosphere to the Moho. A comparison of the reconstructed SCLM beneath the Anabar and Chomurdakh fields reveal more fertile compositions of the mantle rocks and simpler structure for later field. The lower mantle lithospheric abundance and the PTX trends of the Kuranakh eclogites and the Orto-Yargyn kimberlites are similar to the eclogitic diamond inclusions from the Ebelyakh placers. This increases the possibility of finding diamonds deposits in the Anabar Shield kimberlites.