Vol 54, No 3 (2016)

The study of magmatism and tectonic structure of the East Indian or Ninetyeast Ridge (NER) reveals the geochemical similarity of mantle sources for the NER and Kerguelen Plateau melts. Magmas related to the Kerguelen plume were derived from an enriched mantle source, whereas the NER tholeiitic basalts originated from a source contaminated by a depleted material. While, depleted basalt varieties were not found within the NER basalts. It was shown that magmatic rocks forming the NER were generated by high degrees (30%) of partial melting within the ancient Wharton spreading ridge due to the activity of the Kerguelen plume, which was located at this time in the vicinity of the ridge. The most significant impact of the plume on the NER structures was recorded at 70–50 Ma ago.

A model for the composition of meteoritic nanodiamonds is suggested based on analysis of the concentrations and isotopic compositions of C, N, and Xe in the nanodiamond-rich grain-size fractions, which were separated for the first time from the Orgueil CI chondrite. According to the model, meteoritic nanodiamond consists of two populations of grains (denoted C_HL and C_N). The size distributions of grains in populations in the C_HL and C_N populations are different: the C_HL population is finer grained than C_N. The grains of the C_HL population are characterized by a radial gradient in the carbon isotopic composition, and they contain implanted anomalous noble gases (HL component) and the heavy nitrogen isotope ¹⁵N. Following (Clayton et al., 1995), the probable astrophysical source of this population of nanodiamond grains is thought to be the mixing helium and hydrogen shells of a Type-II supernova, and the mechanism that produced these grains was the slow CVD process. The C_N population grains have homogeneous isotopic compositions of carbon (δ¹³C ≡–100‰) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N ≡–400‰) and contain almost all nitrogen of the nanodiamond-rich fractions. This population of nanodiamond grains was likely formed by a fast unequilibrated process, when shock waves affected organic compounds or gas rich in C- and N-bearing compounds during the early evolution of the protosolar nebula. Calculations within the framework of the model show that the nanodiamond-rich fractions separated from the Orgueil meteorite have the C_N/C_HL ratios varying from 1 in the finest grained fraction to 10 in the coarse-grained one. At these proportions of the populations, weighted mean δ¹³C values of C_HL grains in the fractions lie within the range of 42 to 394‰, and the concentrations of ¹³²Xe-HL and ¹⁵N are (49–563) × 10^–8 cm³/gC and (1.1–6.2) × 10^–5 cm³/gC, respectively.