Abstract
For the first time eitelite Na2Mg(CO3)2 was observed as a daughter phase in the melt inclusions in olivine from one of the deepest known mantle rocks sampled by kimberlite magma – sheared peridotite xenoliths (190 – 230 km), taken from the Devonian (~370 Ma) Udachnaya-East kimberlite pipe (Siberian craton, Russia). Eitelite was identified by confocal Raman spectroscopy and confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Raman spectra of eitelite in the melt inclusions are characterized by a very strong band at 1105 cm−1 attributed to CO32− symmetric stretching, and weaker bands at 207–208 and 260–263 cm−1 due to lattice vibration. Our findings of eitelite in the melt inclusions entrapped by olivine of mantle xenoliths indicate that this rare carbonate can crystallise from primitive mantle-derived alkaline carbonatite melt.