Published January 19, 1989 | Version v1
Journal article

Origin of the anomalous 40Ar-39Ar age of Zaire cubic diamonds: excess 40Ar in pristine mantle fluids

  • 1. Tokyo Univ. (Japan). Geophysics Inst.
  • 2. Sheffield Univ. (UK). Dept. of Physics

Description

Cubic diamonds from Zaire show excellent correlations between potassium content and 40Ar/36Ar ratio, and between 40Ar/36Ar and 39Ar/36Ar, which can be interpreted to yield an 'isochron' age of about 6 Gyr. Now the discovery of a correlation between chlorine content and 40Ar, together with recent mineralogical and geochemical work concerning the origin of cubic diamonds, strongly suggests that the 40Ar is an excess component which has no age significance, and that the 40Ar and its associated potassium are contained in sub-micrometre inclusions of mantle-derived fluid. (author)

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Nature (London)
Journal Volume
337
Journal Issue
6204
Series
Nature (London).
Journal Page Range
226-229
ISSN
0028-0836
CODEN
NATUA