Geodynamics of kimberlites on a cooling Earth: Clues to plate tectonic evolution and deep volatile cycles

Tappe, Sebastian; Smart, Katie A.; Torsvik, Trond H.; Massuyeau, Malcolm; Wit, Maarten de

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.013

Cited by 231 publications

(183 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Additionally, kimberlites and phlogopite bearing picrites are reported with age ranges from 91-78 Ma within the Paranaíba Igneous Province (Guarino et al, 2013), which are occurring inland from the rifting margin, with some similar young kimberlites pulses (90 ± 10 Ma and 60 ± 10 Ma) preserved inland on the African margin (e.g. Tappe et al, 2018). These all give testament of a series of younger than Paraná-Etendeka magmatic events, albeit of relatively low volumes, that occur as the rifting continents parted.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 96%

Volcanic constraints on the unzipping of Africa from South America: Insights from new geochronological controls along the Angola margin

et al. 2019

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The breakup of Africa from South America is associated with the emplacement of the Paraná-Etendeka flood basalt province from around 134 Ma and the Tristan da Cunha plume. Yet many additional volcanic events occur that are younger than the main pulse of the Paraná-Etendeka and straddle the rift to drift phases of the main breakup. This contribution reports on new geochronological constraints from the Angolan part of the African Margin. Three coastal and one inland section have been sampled stretching across some 400 Km, with 39 Ar/ 40 Ar, U-Pb and Palaeontology used to provide age constraints. Ages from the new data range from ~100 to 81 Ma, with three main events (cr. 100, 91 and 82-81 Ma). Volcanic events are occurring within the Early to Late Cretaceous, along this part of the margin with a general younging towards Namibia. With the constraints of additional age information both onshore and offshore Angola, a clear younging trend at the early stages of rift to drift is recorded in the volcanic events that unzip from North to South. Similar age volcanic events are reported from the Brazilian side of the conjugate margin, and highlight the need to fully incorporate these relatively low volume volcanic pulses into the plate tectonic breakup models of the South Atlantic Margin.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 96%

Volcanic constraints on the unzipping of Africa from South America: Insights from new geochronological controls along the Angola margin

et al. 2019

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“…Almost all of these finds are within ancient cratons and median massif areas, which therefore can be regarded as high-priority locations for diamond prospecting activity. Potentially undiscovered diamondiferous kimberlite clusters could also reveal new magmatic events aside from those already recognized (Paleoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Devonian-upper Carboniferous periods) in this region [47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diamond Exploration Potential of the Northern East European Platform

Shchukina

Shchukin²

2018

Minerals

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Abstract:In this study, we assess the diamond exploration potential of the northern East European Platform based on aeromagnetic survey results and the morphologic and geochemical analysis of 1513 grains of kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs), such as purple pyrope garnet, olivine, and Cr-diopside. These minerals were recovered from samples collected from modern river and stream sediments in four areas located in the north-eastern (within the Arkhangelsk Diamondiferous Province) and south-western (hundreds of kilometers outside of the Arkhangelsk Diamondiferous Province) parts of the Arkhangelsk region in the European part of Russia. All the studied areas are located within ancient cratons, including the Kola, Karelian, and Shenkursk cratons. Based on the major element compositions of the KIMs and thermobarometric calculations, this study confirms that the lithospheric mantle beneath the studied areas is suitable for the formation and preservation of diamonds. The high percentage of KIMs with primary magmatic grain surface morphologies is evidence of the presence of local kimberlite sources within all of the studied areas. The significant amount of diamond-associated KIMs indicates that the potential sources are diamondiferous. Hence, the results suggest that the studied areas can be recommended for further diamond prospecting activity with a high probability of discovering new diamondiferous kimberlites.

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“…Stern et al [62] argued that kimberlites became increasingly abundant from the Neoproterozoic onwards because subduction began to deliver increasingly large volumes of water and CO 2 deep into the mantle T1 T1 T1 T2 T2 T2 T3 T3 T2 T ). An alternate interpretation is offered by Tappe et al [70]. Neoproterozoic snowball Earth is another mystery in Earth history that can be explained by a Neoproterozoic onset of the modern episode of plate tectonics.…”

Section: (E) Other Phenomena Explained By a Neoproterozoic Start Of Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of plate tectonics

Stern

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

136

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To understand how plate tectonics became Earth's dominant mode of convection, we need to address three related problems. (i) What was Earth's tectonic regime before the present episode of plate tectonics began? (ii) Given the preceding tectonic regime, how did plate tectonics become established? (iii) When did the present episode of plate tectonics begin? The tripartite nature of the problem complicates solving it, but, when we have all three answers, the requisite consilience will provide greater confidence than if we only focus on the long-standing question of when did plate tectonics begin? Earth probably experienced episodes of magma ocean, heat-pipe, and increasingly sluggish single lid magmatotectonism. In this effort we should consider all possible scenarios and lines of evidence. As we address these questions, we should acknowledge there were probably multiple episodes of plate tectonic and non-plate tectonic convective styles on Earth. Non-plate tectonic styles were probably dominated by ‘single lid tectonics’ and this evolved as Earth cooled and its lithosphere thickened. Evidence from the rock record indicates that the modern episode of plate tectonics began in Neoproterozoic time. A Neoproterozoic transition from single lid to plate tectonics also explains kimberlite ages, the Neoproterozoic climate crisis and the Neoproterozoic acceleration of evolution. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Earth dynamics and the development of plate tectonics’.

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Geodynamics of kimberlites on a cooling Earth: Clues to plate tectonic evolution and deep volatile cycles

Cited by 231 publications

References 99 publications

Volcanic constraints on the unzipping of Africa from South America: Insights from new geochronological controls along the Angola margin

Volcanic constraints on the unzipping of Africa from South America: Insights from new geochronological controls along the Angola margin

Diamond Exploration Potential of the Northern East European Platform

The evolution of plate tectonics

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