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Luminescence of diamonds from metamorphic rocks

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Published/Copyright: April 2, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 96 Issue 1

Abstract

This study explores the effects of metamorphism on luminescence of diamond. Four diamond suites extracted from metamorphic rocks were characterized using optical cathodoluminescence, FTIR spectroscopy, photoluminescence at the liquid nitrogen temperature, and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. The studied diamonds are from sedimentary conglomerate and lamprophyric breccia metamorphosed to the greenschist facies (Wawa, Canada), and from the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terranes of Kokchetav (Kazakhstan) and Erzgebirge (Germany). The majority of studied diamonds that experienced metamorphism have distinct cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence when compared to diamonds from unmetamorphosed rocks, i.e., kimberlites or placers. Diamonds in metamorphic rocks do not show the prevalent blue cathodoluminescence emittance at 415-440 and 480-490 nm typical of common kimberlite and placer diamonds. Ultrahigh-pressure diamonds are mostly non-luminescent, whereas diamonds from greenschists display green, yellow, orange, and red cathodoluminescent colors emitting light at 520 and 576 nm, and between 586 and 664 nm. The shift of cathodoluminescence in octahedrally grown Type Ia diamonds metamorphosed in the greenschist facies results from the presence of optical centers with zero-phonon lines at 575 and 637 nm detected via photoluminescence spectroscopy. The centers may have formed due to irradiation of diamonds in the upper crust followed by annealing at T > 500 °C. This process creates vacancies that diffuse through the diamond lattice and get trapped at N sites, creating NVo and NV- optical centers. The distinct luminescence of metamorphosed diamonds can persist for billions of years in the crust, but is annealed in the mantle.

Keywords : Diamond; cathodoluminescence; photoluminescence; ultrahigh-pressure terrane; greenschist facies metamorphism; optical center
Received: 2009-12-02
Accepted: 2010-07-24
Published Online: 2015-04-02
Published in Print: 2011-01-01

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. A mineralogical, geochemical, and microbiogical assessment of the antimony- and arsenic-rich neutral mine drainage tailings near Pezinok, Slovakia
  2. Luminescence of diamonds from metamorphic rocks
  3. Crystal chemistry of Th in fluorapatite
  4. Hydrogen-bond and cation partitioning in muscovite: A single-crystal neutron-diffraction study at 295 and 20 K
  5. Spectroscopic characterization of transition metal impurities in natural montebrasite/amblygonite
  6. An assessment of the potential benefits of ion implants as trace-element reference material for electron probe X-ray microanalysis: The case of invisible gold
  7. The incorporation of hydroxyl into zircon
  8. Association between phosphorus and iron oxides in manganese ores
  9. Equation of state of carbonated hydroxylapatite at ambient temperature up to 10 GPa: Significance of carbonate
  10. Monoclinic tridymite in clast-rich impact melt rock from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure
  11. Phase boundary between perovskite and post-perovskite structures in MnGeO3 determined by in situ X-ray diffraction measurements using sintered diamond anvils
  12. Hydrogenation of FeSi under high pressure
  13. Fe-Ti oxide-silicate (QUIlF-type) equilibria in feldspathoid-bearing systems
  14. In situ bubble vesiculation in silicic magmas
  15. First-principles calculation of the elastic moduli of sheet silicates and their application to shale anisotropy
  16. A new semi-micro wet chemical method for apatite analysis and its application to the crystal chemistry of fluorapatite-chlorapatite solid solutions
  17. New insight into the structural transformation of partially dehydroxylated pyrophyllite
  18. A 94-layer long-period mica polytype: A TEM study
  19. The crystal structure of stichtite, re-examination of barbertonite, and the nature of polytypism in MgCr hydrotalcites
  20. Vorlanite (CaU6+)O4—A new mineral from the Upper Chegem caldera, Kabardino-Balkaria, Northern Caucasus, Russia
  21. The structure of braitschite, a calcium rare earth borate
  22. Alteration of dehydrated schoepite and soddyite to studtite, [(UO2)(O2)(H2O)2](H2O)2
  23. A reinvestigation of smectite illitization in experimental hydrothermal conditions: Results from X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy
  24. Letter. The elastic properties of diopside, CaMgSi2O6
https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2011.3467
Keywords for this article
Diamond; cathodoluminescence; photoluminescence; ultrahigh-pressure terrane; greenschist facies metamorphism; optical center

Articles in the same Issue

  1. A mineralogical, geochemical, and microbiogical assessment of the antimony- and arsenic-rich neutral mine drainage tailings near Pezinok, Slovakia
  2. Luminescence of diamonds from metamorphic rocks
  3. Crystal chemistry of Th in fluorapatite
  4. Hydrogen-bond and cation partitioning in muscovite: A single-crystal neutron-diffraction study at 295 and 20 K
  5. Spectroscopic characterization of transition metal impurities in natural montebrasite/amblygonite
  6. An assessment of the potential benefits of ion implants as trace-element reference material for electron probe X-ray microanalysis: The case of invisible gold
  7. The incorporation of hydroxyl into zircon
  8. Association between phosphorus and iron oxides in manganese ores
  9. Equation of state of carbonated hydroxylapatite at ambient temperature up to 10 GPa: Significance of carbonate
  10. Monoclinic tridymite in clast-rich impact melt rock from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure
  11. Phase boundary between perovskite and post-perovskite structures in MnGeO3 determined by in situ X-ray diffraction measurements using sintered diamond anvils
  12. Hydrogenation of FeSi under high pressure
  13. Fe-Ti oxide-silicate (QUIlF-type) equilibria in feldspathoid-bearing systems
  14. In situ bubble vesiculation in silicic magmas
  15. First-principles calculation of the elastic moduli of sheet silicates and their application to shale anisotropy
  16. A new semi-micro wet chemical method for apatite analysis and its application to the crystal chemistry of fluorapatite-chlorapatite solid solutions
  17. New insight into the structural transformation of partially dehydroxylated pyrophyllite
  18. A 94-layer long-period mica polytype: A TEM study
  19. The crystal structure of stichtite, re-examination of barbertonite, and the nature of polytypism in MgCr hydrotalcites
  20. Vorlanite (CaU6+)O4—A new mineral from the Upper Chegem caldera, Kabardino-Balkaria, Northern Caucasus, Russia
  21. The structure of braitschite, a calcium rare earth borate
  22. Alteration of dehydrated schoepite and soddyite to studtite, [(UO2)(O2)(H2O)2](H2O)2
  23. A reinvestigation of smectite illitization in experimental hydrothermal conditions: Results from X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy
  24. Letter. The elastic properties of diopside, CaMgSi2O6
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