Formation and storage of diamond in Earth's mantle

我们想要了解地幔中钻石的起源和存续。我们的目标不仅是确定钻石最初生长的高温高压流体的组成，而且还要确定破坏钻石地下深处的任何流体的组成。包裹体是微小的晶体和液滴，在数十亿年前被困在不断增长的钻石中。因此，它们是微小的时间胶囊，可以揭示地幔中含钻石岩石的起源和演化。在大多数钻石形成后很长一段时间里，火山将钻石和最初包裹钻石的深部地幔岩石的样本一起带到了地表。这些样品(称为捕虏体)可以提供有关钻石源岩在喷发时的状态的信息。结合来自钻石包裹体和包体的数据，将使我们能够重建古代大陆及其深部地幔根源随时间的复杂演化。 了解钻石的起源和生存对于制定成功的寻找钻石新来源的战略也是至关重要的。在过去的二十年里，钻石勘探和开采已经成为加拿大偏远北极地区最重要的经济力量。按照目前的采矿速度，迫切需要新的发现，以便将钻石勘探和采矿对西北地区和努纳武特经济的巨大贡献维持到下一个十年。我们对钻石及其源岩的研究将为选择目标区和改进化探方法提供重要的新信息。

We want to understand both the origin and the survival of diamonds in the Earth's mantle. We aim to establish the composition not only of the hot, high-pressure fluids from which the diamonds originally grew but also of any fluids that destroy diamonds deep underground. Inclusions are tiny crystals and fluid droplets that became trapped in the growing diamonds billions of years ago. Thus, they are miniscule time capsules that can reveal the origin and evolution of diamond-bearing rocks in the Earth's mantle. Eons after most diamonds had formed, volcanoes then carried diamonds to the surface together with samples of the deep mantle rock that originally surrounded the diamonds. These samples (known as xenoliths) can provide information on the state of the diamond source rocks at the time of eruption. Combining data from diamond inclusions and xenoliths will allow us to reconstruct the complex evolution of ancient continents and their deep mantle roots through time. Understanding the origin and survival of diamonds is also essential for developing successful strategies to find new sources of diamonds. Over the past two decades, diamond exploration and mining has become the single most important economic force in Canada's remote Arctic regions. At the current pace of mining, new discoveries are urgently needed to sustain the enormous contributions of diamond exploration and mining to the economies of NWT and Nunavut into the next decade. Our research into diamonds and their source rocks will provide crucial new information for selecting target areas and improving geochemical exploration methods.