Carbonatite melt-peridotite interaction at 5.5-7.0Â GPa: Implications for metasomatism in lithospheric mantle

The interaction produced carbonatitic melts with low SiO2 (≤ 7 wt.%) and high alkalis. At 1200 °C, melt-peridotite interaction occurs through Mg-Ca exchange, resulting in elimination of orthopyroxene and crystallization of magnesite and clinopyroxene. At 1350 °C hybridization of the carbonatite and magnesite-bearing peridotite melts occurred with consumption of clinopyroxene and magnesite, and crystallization of orthopyroxene at MgO/CaO ≥ 4.3. The resulting peridotite-saturated melt has Ca# (37-50) depending on primary carbonatite composition. Compositions of silicate phases are similar to those of high-temperature peridotite but are different from megacrysts in kimberlites. CaO and Cr2O3 changes in garnet produced from the melt-harzburgite interaction at 1200 and 1350 °C perfectly match the observed trend in garnet from metasomatized peridotite of the Siberian subcontinental lithospheric mantle. K-rich carbonatite melts equilibrated with peridotite at 5.5-7.0 GPa and 1200-1350 °C correspond to high-Mg inclusions in fibrous diamond. Carbonatite melt is a weak solvent of entrained xenoliths and therefore cannot produce kimberlitic magma if temperatures are ~ 1350 °C on separation from the lithospheric peridotite source and ~ 1000 °C on eruption.