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Diamond genesis in a multiply-constrained model

Abstract

Thermal cracking of primordial carbon gas species in depleted and reduced Archaean subcratonic lithosphere is proposed for the nucleation of micro- and ultramafic macrodiamonds. Growth was mainly by solid-state diffusion, although crystallization of the eclogitic diamond suite was from sulphide-immiscible melts. Lateral and vertical heterogeneities and the geometry of the lithosphere can account for a variety of second-order variables such as diamond type, colour, crystal morphology and dissolution characteristics.

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Haggerty, S. Diamond genesis in a multiply-constrained model. Nature 320, 34–38 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/320034a0

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