Late Triassic (Carnian) lamproites from Noril'sk, polar Siberia: Evidence for melting of the recycled Archean crust and the question of lamproite source for some placer diamond deposits of the Siberian Craton

Abstract Two typical lamproitic dykes were found in Noril'sk region of the north-western Siberian Craton, which according to mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic criteria belong to anorogenic, non-diamondiferous type of lamproites. According to the geologic relationships, they cut through the Noril'sk-1 intrusion of the Siberian flood basalt province and thus are younger than ~ 251 Ma. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of the two dykes yielded ages of 235.24 ± 0.19 Ma and 233.96 ± 0.19 Ma, showing that they were emplaced in Carnian of the Late Triassic, about 16 Ma after the flood basalt event. There are some indications that there were multiple lamproitic dyke emplacements, including probably emplacement of diamondiferous lamproites, which produced Carnian-age diamond-rich placer deposits in other parts of the Siberian Craton and in adjacent regions. Lead isotope modelling shows that the source of the studied lamproites was formed with participation of recycled crust, which underwent modification of its U/Pb ratio as early as 2.5 Ga. However, the exact mechanism of the recycling cannot be deciphered now. It could be either through delamination of the cratonic crust or subduction of a mix of ancient terrigenous sediments into the mantle transition zone.