In this study we report the first hydrogen isotope composition analyses on carbonado diamond along with cathodoluminescence and scanning electron microscopic imaging, electron microprobe analyses, and stable (H and C) and radiogenic (Sr) isotope measurements. The hydrogen of bulk carbonado (consisting diamond and pore-filling minerals) yielded ∼ −4‰, consistent with usual crustal or mantle-derived fluids. The diamond-related hydrogen component is about 70 ± 30 ppm and shows a D-depletion down to −200‰. Determined H isotope values — together with C isotope compositions — overlap the ranges for mantle-derived hydrocarbons. Textural characteristics and Sr isotope ratios of pore-filling florencite indicate that the carbonado was formed in a fluid-rich environment, underwent a significant high-temperature influence and finally suffered thorough alteration. Based on these observations, a terrestrial formation during interaction of mantle rocks/melts or subducted crustal materials and reduced C-H fluids seems to be more plausible than an extraterrestrial origin.
J. Aléon F. Robert 2004 Interstellar chemistry recorded by nitrogen isotopes in Solar system organic matter Icarus 167 424 430.
A.L. Boettcher J.R. O'Neil 1980 Stable isotope, chemical, and petrographic studies of high-pressure amphiboles and micas: evidence for metasomatism in the mantle source regions of alkali basalts and kimberlites Americal Journal of Science 280-A 594 621.
R. Capdevilla N. Arndt J. Letendre J.F. Sanvage 1999 Diamonds in volcaniclastic komatite from French Guiana Nature 399 456 458.
P. Cartigny T. Stachel J. Harris M. Javoy 2004 Constraining diamond metasomatic growth using C- and N-stable isotopes; examples from Namibia Lithos 77 359 373.
P. Cartigny 2005 Stable isotopes and the origin of diamond Elements 1 79 84.
P. Cartigny 2007 Mantle derived carbonados: insights from Dachine diamonds (French Guiana) Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71-A 148.
P. Cartigny 2008 The formation of enigmatic carbonados from komatiite-related fluids: A model Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72-A 141.
P. Cartigny J.W. Harris M. Javoy 2001 Diamond genesis, mantle fractionations and mantle nitrogen content: a study of δ13C-N concentrations in diamonds Earth and Planetary Science Letters 185 85 98.
S. De P.J. Heaney R.B. Hargreaves E.P. Vicenzi P.T. Taylor 1998 Mineralogical observations of polycrystalline diamond — a contribution to the carbonado conundrum Earth and Planetary Science Letters 164 421 433.
S.R. De P.J. Heaney E.P. Vicenziand J.H. Wang 2001 Chemical heterogeneity in carbonado, an enigmatic polycrystalline diamond Earth and Planetary Science Letters 185 315 330.
S. De P.J. Heaney F. Yungwei E.P. Vicenzi 2004 Microstructural study of synthetic sintered diamond, and comparison with carbonado, a natural polycrystalline diamond American Mineralogist 89 438 446.
A. De Stefano N. Lefebvre M. Kopylova 2006 Enigmatic diamonds in Archean calc-alkaline lamprophyres of Wawa, southern Ontario, Canada Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 151 158 173.
A. De Stefano M.G. Kopylova P. Cartigny V. Afanasiev 2009 Diamonds and eclogites of the Jericho kimberlite (Northern Canada) Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 158 295 315.
P. Deines 2002 The carbon isotope geochemistry of mantle xenoliths Earth-Science Reviews 58 247 278.
A. Demény 1995 H isotope fractionation due to hydrogen-zinc reactions and its implications on D/H analysis of water samples Chemical Geology 121 19 25.
A. Demény Z. Siklósy 2008 Combination of off-line preparation and continuous flow mass spectrometry: D/H analyses of inclusion waters Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 22 1329 1334.
J.P. Dismukes P.R. Gaines H. Witzke D.P. Leta B.H. Kear S.K. Behal S.B. Rice 1988 Demineralisation and microstructure of carbonado Materials Science and Engineering A105/106 555 563.
Dobrzhinetskaya, L., R. Wirth, J. Yang, I. Hutcheon, P. Weber, H.W. Green 2007: Osbornite (TiN) and boron nitride nanoinclusions in coesite from Tibet: a first record of nitrogen in a terrestrial ultrahigh pressure environment. — American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, 2007, abstract #V43E-04.
Foreman, L.R., R.S. Barbero, D.W. Carroll, T. Archuleta, J. Baker, D. Devlin, J. Duke, D. Loemier, M. Trukla 1999: Diamond and Diamond-Like Materials as Hydrogen Isotope Barriers. — DOE Scientific and Technical Information, DOI .
E.M. Galimov F.V. Kaminskii L.A. Kodina 1985 New data on isotopic composition of carbon in carbonado Geokhimiya 5 723 726.
J. Garai S.E. Haggerty S. Rekhi M. Chance 2006 Infra-red absorption investigations confirm the extraterrestrial origin of carbonado diamonds Astrophysical Journal 653 L153 L156.
A.I. Gorshkov S.V. Titkov A.M. Pleshakov A.V. Sivtsov L.V. Bershov 1996 Inclusions of native metals and other mineral phases into carbonado from the Ubangi region (Central Africa) Geology of Ore Deposits 38 114 119.
G. Graser J. Potter J. Köhler G. Markl 2008 Isotope, major, minor and trace element geochemistry of late-magmatic fluids in the peralkaline Ilímaussaq intrusion, South Greenland Lithos 106 207 221.
S.E. Haggerty 1996 Diamond-carbonado models for a new meteorite class of circumstellar or solar system origin EOS 77 S143.
S.E. Haggerty 1999 A diamond trilogy: superplumes, supercontinents, and supernovae Science 285 851 860.
P.C. Hayman M.G. Kopylova F.V. Kaminsky 2005 Lower mantle diamonds from Rio Soriso (Juina area, Mato Grosso, Brazil) Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 149 430 445.
P.J. Heaney E.P. Vicenziand E. Breval 2004 The origin of porosity in carbonado diamond Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68 A115.
P.J. Heaney E.P. Vicenzi S. De 2005 Strange diamonds: the mysterious origins of carbonado and framesite Elements 1 85 89.
E. Hegner H.J. Walter M. Satir 1995 Pb-Sr-Nd isotopic compositions and trace element geochemistry of megacrysts and melilites from the Tertiary Urach volcanic field: source composition of small volume melts under SW Germany Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 122 322 335.
Hoefs, J. 1996: Stable isotope geochemistry. — Springer-Verlag, 201 p.
G.R. Huss 2005 Meteoritic nanodiamonds: Messengers from the stars Elements 1 97 100.
D.E. Jacob K.S. Viljoen N. Grassineau E. Jagoutz 2000 Remobilization in the cratonic lithosphere recorded in polycrystalline diamond Science 289 1182 1185.
D.E. Jacob A. Kronz K.S. Viljoen 2004 Cohenite, native iron and troilite inclusions in garnets from polycrystalline diamond aggregates Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 146 566 576.
Jones, A.P. A., D. Beard. J. Milledge, G. Cressey, C. Kirk, P. DeCarli 2003: New nitride minerals in carbonado diamond. — Eighth International Kimberlite Conference Abstracts, Victoria Canada, FLA 0167.
H. Kagi S. Fukura 2008 Infrared and Raman spectroscopic observations of Central African carbonado and implications for its origin European Journal of Mineralogy 20 387 393.
H. Kagi K. Takahashi H. Hidaka A. Masuda 1994 Chemical properties of Central American carbonado and its implications Geochimica et Cosmichimica Acta 58 2629 2638.
H. Kagi S. Sato T. Akagi H. Kanda 2007 Generation history of carbonado inferred from photoluminescence spectra, cathodoluminescence image and carbon isotopic composition American Mineralogist 92 217 224.
Kagi, H., H. Sakurai, H. Ishibashi, H. Ohfuji 2010: Finding primary fluid inclusions in carbonado diamond and its implication to the origin. — Acta Mineralogica et Petrographica, Abstract Series, International Mineralogical Association 2010, pp. 178.
F.V. Kaminskiy 1987 Genesis of carbonado-polycrystalline aggregates of diamond Akademiya Nauk SSSR Doklady, Earth Sciences Section 294 439 440.
F.V. Kaminsky 1991 Carbonado and yakutite: Properties and possible genesis Proceedings of the International Kimberlite Conference 5 214 216.
H. Kamioka K. Shibata I. Kajizuka T. Ohta 1996 Rare-earth element patterns and carbon isotopic composition of carbonados: Implications for their crustal origin Geochemical Journal 30 189 194.
J. Keller J. Hoefs 1995 Stable isotope characteristics of recent natrocarbonatites from Oldoinyo Lengai K. Bell J. Keller Carbonatite Volcanism: Oldoinyo Lengai and the Petrogenesis of Natrocarbonatites Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Budapest 113 123.
G. Kletetschka P.T. Taylor P.J. Wasilewski H.G.M. Hill 2000 Magnetic properties of aggregate polycrystalline diamond: implications for carbonado history Earth and Planetary Science Letters 181 279 290.
Kyser, T.K. 1986: Stable isotope variations in the mantle. — In: Valley, J.W., H.P. Taylor, Jr., J.R. O'Neil (eds): Stable isotopes in high temperature geological processes. Reviews in Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America, 16, pp. 141–164.
T.K. Kyser J.R. O'Neil 1984 Hydrogen isotope systematics of submarine basalts Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48 2123 2133.
M.A. Martins-Neto 1996 Lacustrine fan-deltaic sedimentation in a Proterozoic rift basin: the Sopa-Brumadinho Tectonosequence, southeastern Brazil Sedimentary Geology 106 65 96.
T. Maruoka G. Kurat G. Dobosi C. Koeberl 2004 Isotopic composition of carbon in diamonds of diamondites: Record of mass fractionation in the upper mantle Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68 1635 1644.
S.P. Mehandru A.B. Anderson J.C. Angus 1992 Hydrogen binding and diffusion in diamond Journal of Materials Research 73 689 695.
V.A. Nadolinny V.S. Shatsky N.V. Sobolev D.J. Twitchen 2003 Observation and interpretation of paramagnetic defects on Brazilian and Central African carbonados American Mineralogist 88 11 17.
M. Ozima M. Tatsumoto 1997 Radiation-induced diamond crystallization: Origin of carbonados at its implication on meteoritic nano-diomonds Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61 369 376.
M. Ozima S. Zashu K. Tomura Y. Matsuhisa 1991 Constraints from noble-gas contents on the origin of carbonado diamonds Nature 351 472 474.
G. Parthasarathy S.E. Haggerty A.C. Kunwar 2005 Nanocrystalline osbornite from carbonados: spectrographic studies Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 69 Supplement 521.
V.A. Petrovsky A.A. Shiryaev V.P. Lyutoev A.E. Sukharev M. Martins 2010 Morphology and defects of diamond grains in carbonado: clues to carbonado genesis European Journal of Mineralogy 22 35 47.
G. Popovici R.G. Wilson T. Sung M.A. Prelas S. Khasawinah 1995 Diffusion of boron, lithium, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen in type IIa natural diamond Journal of Applied Physics 77 5103 5106.
J. Potter F.J. Longstaffe 2007 A gas-chromatograph, continuous flow-isotope ratio massspectrometry method for δ{sr13}C and δD measurement of complex fluid inclusion volatiles: Examples from the Khibina alkaline igneous complex, northwest Russia and the south Wales coalfields Chemical Geology 244 186 201.
B. Rasmussen J.R. Muhling 2009 Reactions destroying detrital monazite in greenschist-facies sandstones from the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa Chemical Geology 264 311 327.
D.N. Robinson 1978 The characteristics of natural diamond and their interpretation Minerals Science 10 55 72.
D.J. Schulze B. Harte J.W. Valley D.M.D. Channer 2004 Evidence of subduction and crust-mantle mixing from a single diamond Lithos 77 349 358.
V.A. Seliverstov A.I. Gorshkov S.A. Shcheka A.V. Sivtsov 1996 Diamonds and carbonado of the Primorskii Krai: Mineralogy, crystal chemistry, and genesis Geology of Ore Deposits 38 429 441.
L. Shang I.-M. Chou W. Lu R.C. Burruss Y. Zhang 2009 Determination of diffusion coefficients of hydrogen in fused silica between 296 and 523 K by Raman spectroscopy and application of fused silica capillaries in studying redox reactions Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73 5435 5443.
D. Shelkov A.B. Verchovsky H.J. Milledge C.T. Pillinger 1997 Carbonado: a comparison between Brazilian and Ubangui sources with other forms of microcrystalline diamond baseb on carbon and nitrogen isotopes Russian Geology and Geophysics 38 332 340.
B. Sherwood Lollar T.D. Westgate J.A. Ward G.F. Slater G. Lacrampe-Couloume 2002 Abiogenic formation of alkanes in the Earth's crust as a minor source for global hydrocarbon reservoirs Nature 6880 522 524.
K. Shibata H. Kamioka F.V. Kaminsky V.I. Koptil D.P. Svisero 1993 Rare earth element patterns of carbonado and yakutite: evidence for their crustal origin Mineralogical Magazine 57 607 611.
J.V. Smith J.B. Dawson 1985 Carbonado diamond aggregates from early impacts of crustal rocks Geology 13 342 343.
N.V. Sobolev V.S. Shatsky 1990 Diamond inclusions in garnets from metamorphic rocks: a new environment for diamond formation Nature 343 742 746.
N.V. Sobolev E.S. Efimova L.N. Pospelova 1981 Native iron in diamonds of Yakutiya and its paragenesis Geologiya i Geofizika 22 25 28.
Sobolev, N.V., E.S. Efimova, V.I. Koptil 1999: Mineral inclusions in diamonds in the Northeast of the Yakutian diamondiferous province. — Proceedings of the 7th Kimberlite Conference, pp. 816–821.
T. Stachel J.W. Harris K. Muehlenbachs 2009 Sources of carbon in inclusion bearing diamonds Lithos 112S 625 637.
L.A. Taylor M. Anand 2004 Diamonds: time capsules from Siberian mantle Chemie der Erde 64 1 74.
Z. Teukam D. Ballutaud F. Jomard J. Chevallier M. Bernard A. Deneuville 2003 Trap limited diffusion of hydrogen in boron-doped diamond Diamond and Related Materials 12 647 651.
S.V. Titkov A.I. Gorshkov S.F. Vinokurov L.V. Bershov D.I. Solodov A.V. Sivtov 2001 Geochemistry and genesis of carbonado for Yakutian diamond deposits Geochemistry International 39 228 236.
L.F. Trueb W.C. Butterman 1969 Carbonado, a microstructural study American Mineralogist 54 412 425.
L.F. Trueb E.C. de Wys 1969 Carbonado: Natural polycrystalline diamond Science 165 799 802.
L.C. Trueb E.C. de Wys 1971 Carbon from Ubangui American Mineralogist 56 1252 1268.
Vicenzi, E.P., P.J. Heaney 2001: The Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of Carbonado Diamond: An In Situ Study. — Eleventh Annual V. M. Goldschmidt Conference abstract, pp. 3886.
A.P. Vinogradov O.I. Kropotova Y.L. Orlov V.A. Grinenko 1966 Isotopic composition of diamond and carbonado crystals Geochemistry International 3 1123 1125.
W. Wang 1998 Formation of diamond with mineral inclusions of “mixed” eclogite and peridotite paragenesis Earth and Planetary Science Letters 160 831 843.
M.J. Whiticar 1999 Carbon and hydrogen isotope systematics of bacterial formation and oxidation of methane Chemical Geology 161 291 314.
R. Yokochi D. Ohnenstetter Y. Sano 2008 Intragrain variation in δ13C and nitrogen concentration associated with textural heterogeneities of carbonado Canadian Mineralogist 46 1283 1296.
N. Yoshioka Y. Odasawara 2005 Cathodoluminescence of microdiamond in dolomite marble from the Kokchetav Massif — Additional evidence for two-stage growth of diamond International Geology Review 47 703 715.
S. Zashu H. Hiyagon 1995 Degassing mechanisms of noble gases from carbonado diamonds Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59 1321 1328.