ISSN 1028-334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2011, Vol. 437, Part 2, pp. 473–478. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2011.
Original Russian Text © A.V. Korsakov, A.V. Golovin, T. Dieing, J. Toporski, 2011, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2011, Vol. 437, No. 4, pp. 530–535.
473
Crystallization of diamond with participation of
COH fluid [1, 2] or the melt [3–7] at PT-parameters
of its thermodynamic stability (950–1000°C and 4–
6 GPa) is the dominating point of view on the forma-
tion of diamondiferous metamorphic rocks. In spite of
lengthy study of diamond-bearing metamorphic rocks
of the Kokchetav massif, high-pressure fluid inclu-
sions were found only in diamonds [8] and assumed in
garnets on the basis of the results of IR-spectroscopic
investigations [9]. The presence of potassium-bearing
clinopyroxenes in rocks of the Kokchetav massif also
provides evidence for the fact that high-potassic liquid
occurred in these rocks at the peak of metamorphism
[10], but its traces were registered only as inclusions in
diamonds [8].
The compositions of the fluid phase and melt at
high temperatures and pressures (above the second
critical point) become practically indistinguishable.
The problem of the position of the second critical
point in the most significant petrological systems is of
special importance since fluids and melts transport a
variable set of elements (see [11] and references
therein). The presence of COH-fluid significantly
decreases the melting temperature of practically all
substrates (metapelites, metabasites, metaperidotites).
The appearance of a melt in primary rocks during sub-
duction in turn results in disappearance of the free
fluid phase, because water solubility in the melt
increases with pressure [11]. Because of this, it is
important to distinguish the areas of fluid and melt
existence, as well as contour the area of coexistence of
these phases.
In this paper we present original data on the com-
position of fluid inclusions in garnets and clinopy-
roxenes from high-pressure garnet–clinopyroxene
rocks of the Kokchetav massif (Northern Kazakh-
stan).
The modal composition of garnet–clinopyroxene
rocks of the Kokchetav massif varies in broad limits
from carbonate (<10 vol % of silicate minerals) up to
predominantly silicate (the concentration of carbon-
ates is <10 vol %). The portion of garnet and clinopy-
roxene in these rocks is usually >85 vol %, whereas the
content of carbonates, sulfides, and secondary prod-
ucts (amphibole and plagioclase) is ~15 vol %. The
compositions of garnet
(Alm
10–48
Sps
1.5–3.1
Pyr
0.5–8.9
Grs
33–76
And
5.2–25
)
and potassium-bearing clinopyroxene from garnet–
clinopyroxene samples vary in broad limits as well.
The significant concentration of trivalent iron in the
compositions of garnets (up to 0.47 f. u.) and clinopy-
roxenes (up to 0.1 f. u.) is a distinguishing feature of
diamond-free garnet–clinopyroxene rocks. In spite of
the absence of diamond in these rocks, they are
undoubtedly isofacial to surrounding diamondiferous
rocks. The presence of K
2
O-bearing clinopyroxenes
(K
2
O ~ 1 wt %) is one of the most convincing indica-
tors of the high-pressure origin of these rocks. The first
reliable data on the presence of a K
2
O admixture in
clinopyroxene were reported in [12]. The admixture of
K
2
O (0.15 and 0.14 wt %) was established in two
chrome diopside inclusions in Yakutian diamond.
Inclusion of K-diopside (1.14 wt % K
2
O) was regis-
tered in garnet from diamondiferous carbonate rocks
of the Kokchetav massif, which indicates the high-
pressure rock of this pyroxene [1]. The presence of
garnet inclusions in porphyroblasts of potassium-
bearing clinopyroxene and inclusions of potassium-
bearing clinopyroxenes in garnet porphyroblasts pro-
vides evidence for synchronous growth of these miner-
als. Lamellae of potassic feldspar, phengite, and phlo-
gopite registered in clinopyroxene porphyroblasts pro-
vide evidence for the fact that the initial clinopyroxene
was enriched in K
2
O and water. The high concentra-
Fluid Inclusions in Rock-Forming Minerals
of Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphic Rocks
(Kokchetav Massif, Northern Kazakhstan)
A. V. Korsakov
a
, A. V. Golovin
a
, T. Dieing
b
, and J. Toporski
b
Presented by Academician N.V. Sobolev September 2, 2010
Received October 11, 2010
DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X11040040
a
Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy,
Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Novosibirsk, Russia
b
WITec GmbH, Ulm, Germany
e-mail: korsakov@uiggm.nsc.ru
GEOCHEMISTRY