Garnet in cratonic and non-cratonic mantle and lower crustal xenoliths from southern Africa: Composition, water incorporation and geodynamic constraints

•No setting-related difference between ‘on craton’ and ‘off craton’ garnets is present.•Garnet in eclogite + granulite is poorer in water compared to pyroxenite + alkremite.•An oceanic crustal origin for eclogite and a mantle origin for pyroxenite is inferred.•Irregularly distributed inclusions of molecular water testify to late fluid influx.•Dry conditions are indicated for the Kaapvaal Craton and the Rehoboth lithosphere.

Garnets from kimberlite-hosted mantle and a few xenoliths from the lower crust were investigated for water, major, minor, and trace elements. Xenoliths from the mantle comprise pyroxenite, eclogite, alkremite, and peridotite, and crustal xenoliths are mafic high-pressure granulites. Samples from South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia comprise two principal settings, Kaapvaal Craton (‘on craton’) and Rehoboth terrane (‘off craton’).The composition of garnet depends on rock type but is unrelated to the setting, except for Ti and Cr. In garnets from ‘off craton’ mantle xenoliths, Ti positively correlates with Cr whereas those from ‘on craton’ samples reveal a negative correlation between both elements. Rare earth element patterns indicative of a metasomatic overprint are observed in garnets from both settings, especially in eclogitic garnet.Water contents in garnet are low and range from <1 to about 40 ppm. No setting-related difference occurs, but a weak correlation between water and rock type exists. Water contents in garnets from eclogite and mafic granulite are lower than those in pyroxenite, alkremite, and peridotite. All garnets are water under-saturated, i.e. they do not contain the maximum amount of water that can be accommodated in the mineral structure. Cratonic and non-cratonic samples also show the same characteristics in the infrared (IR) absorption spectra. An absorption band at 3650 cm−1 is typical for most mantle garnets. Bands at 3520 and 3570 cm−1 are present only in TiO2-rich garnets from the Rehoboth terrane and are ascribed to a Ti-related hydrogen substitution.A number of garnets, especially from the Kaapvaal Craton, contain molecular water in addition to structural water. Molecular water is inhomogeneously distributed at grain scale pointing to local interaction with fluid and to disequilibrium at grain scale. These garnets consistently reveal either submicroscopic hydrous phases or additional IR bands at 3630 and 3610–3600 cm−1 caused by structural water. Both features do not occur in garnets in which molecular water is absent. The observations imply (i) relatively late introduction of fluid, at least in cases where hydrous phases formed, and (ii) a relatively dry environment because only water-deficient garnets are able to incorporate additional structural water. Most importantly, they imply (iii) that the low water contents are primary and not due to water loss during upward transport. This late water influx is not responsible for the metasomatic overprint indicated by garnet REE patterns.The results of this study suggest dry conditions in the lithosphere, including mantle and crustal sections of both the Kaapvaal Craton (‘on craton’) and the Rehoboth terrane (‘off craton’). If the low water contents contributed to the stabilization of the Kaapvaal cratonic root (Peslier et al., 2010) the same should apply to the Rehoboth lithosphere where the same variety of rock types occurs. The extremely low water contents in eclogite relative to pyroxenite may be explained by an oceanic crust origin of the eclogites. Subduction and partial melting would cause depletion of water and incompatible elements. The pyroxenites formed by crystal accumulation in the mantle and did not suffer melt depletion. Such a difference in origin can be reconciled with the low Ti contents in eclogitic garnet and the high Ti contents in pyroxenitic garnet.