V.M. Kvasnytsya, DIAMONDS FROM TERRIGENOUS DEPOSITS OF DNIESTER AND SOUTHERN BUG RIVER BASINS

 

https://doi.org/10.15407/mineraljournal.42.03.003

UDC 549.211

DIAMONDS FROM TERRIGENOUS DEPOSITS OF DNIESTER AND SOUTHERN BUG RIVER BASINS

V.M. Kvasnytsya, DrSc (Mineralogy and Crystallography), Prof., Head of Department

M.P. Semenenko Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Ore Formation of the NAS of Ukraine 34,

Acad. Palladin Ave., Kyiv, Ukraine, 03142

E-mail: vmkvas@hotmail.com

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3692-7153

Language: Ukrainian

Mineralogical journal 2020, 42 (3): 03-16

Abstract: Summarized data on more than 120 diamond crystals from the Neogene (Baltska suite) and Quaternary alluvial sediments of the Dniester — Southern Bug interfluve and their basins were studied: 35 microdiamonds and 1 macrodiamond from the Neogene (Baltska suite) sands and 85 microdiamonds from alluvial sands. Using infrared microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and isotopic analysis of carbon a little more than four dozen microdiamonds (less than 0.5 mm in size) and one macrodiamond have studied in details. According to morphology, microdiamonds from the Neogene (Baltska suite) sands are mainly represented by cubes, octahedrons and rhombic dodecahedrons, as well as crystal fragments. Their photoluminescence is orange, green and yellowish green. Almost half of the crystals do not show luminescence under ultraviolet light. The macrodiamond and several microdiamonds are nitrogen-free crystals of type IIa by physical classification. According to Raman spectroscopy, they are relatively structurally more perfect than nitrogen-containing crystals. Microdiamonds from the alluvium of the Dniester and Southern Bug basins are represented in almost equal proportions by octahedrons and rhombic dodecahedrons, cubes and combination crystals, as well as crystal fragments. Photoluminescence of these diamonds is often orange and green, less common blue and yellow, and is absent for a significant part of the crystals. Among the investigated microdiamonds from the alluvial sands, 39% of the crystals are nitrogen-free type IIa diamonds, 31% of the crystals — Ia type diamonds, 15% of the crystals — Iab type diamonds and 15% of the crystals — Іb type diamonds. Microdiamonds from the alluvium of the Dniester basin have a wide range of δ13С values: from –24.79 to –3.14 ‰ (average –11.94 ‰). A specific feature of the microdiamonds of the Dniester — Southern Bug interfluve and their basins is the wide distribution of unique green rounded crystals among them — tetrahexahedrons and rhombic dodecahedrons. They are characterized by a high content of single nitrogen impurities (593—1106 ppm), a low degree of aggregation of nitrogen atoms (0—13%), and a narrow range of carbon isotopic composition values (average –11.53 ‰ δ13С). They are classified as endemic diamonds which features indicate their local indigenous sources. The distribution of green microdiamonds was analyzed and an assumption was made about their genesis and the possible finding of their host sources. Issues of the origin of diamonds of the Dniester — Southern Bug interfluve and their basins, their possible crystallization medium, and host rocks are considered.

Keywords: placer microdiamonds, crystal morphology, nitrogen impurity centers, carbon isotopic composition, the Dniester — Southern Bug interfluve, the Ukrainian Shield.

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