Russian scientists modeled the formation of mica in the Earth’s mantle to find out the nature of the unusual inclusions in diamonds. This was reported by the press service of Moscow State University.
“The study of mantle mineral associations, including those containing diamonds, has been the most important fundamental task for decades. An experiment at high pressures aimed at the synthesis of solid solutions in systems close to natural ones, in combination with atomistic modeling, in which it is possible to determine the properties of the incorporation of impurity components into mineral phases, is extremely important. becomes informative, ”said Andrey Bobrov, one of the study’s authors, from the Faculty of Geology of Moscow State University.
The study proved that the composition of inclusions in diamonds can be explained by analyzing the composition of phlogopite, a mica material. It turned out that mica containing titanium was formed in the oceanic crust that subducted under the continent in subduction zones. The authors explained exactly how titanium ions can enter phlogopite under upper mantle conditions and why they contain much less chromium than titanium.
The authors hope that their work will help provide a basic understanding of the formation mechanisms of diamond-forming magmas.
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