Diamonds from alluvial deposits near Wellington, New South Wales, have been characterized on the basis of morphological features, mineral inclusions, C isotope signatures, N content and aggregation state and internal structure. The diamonds are of two types. The larger group (Group A) is indistinguishable from diamonds found worldwide from kimberlitic and lamproitic host rocks. This group is inferred to have formed in a peridotitic mantle source in Pre-Cambrian subcratonic lithosphere. The second group (Group B) is unique in its internal structures (which show evidence of growth in a stress field and non-planar facets), has unusually heavy C isotopic compositions and contains Ca-rich eclogitic inclusions. This group is inferred to have formed in a subducting slab. Diamonds of both groups have external features (corrosion structures and polish) indicating transport to the surface by lamproitic-like magmas. The diamonds show evidence of long residence at the earth's surface and significant alluvial reworking: they are not accompanied by typical diamond indicator minerals.

The fusion crusts of meteorites form due to heating during atmospheric entry and have mineralogies which are strongly influenced by changes in oxidation state. We have studied the fusion crusts of the most reduced primitive meteorite group, the enstatite chondrites, since they should demonstrate pronounced changes on oxidation. The fusion crusts are dominated by highly unequilibrated assemblages of sulphide, metal and oxide with compositions indicative of progressive oxidation by the reaction with atmospheric oxygen. Troilite becomes depleted in Ti, Cr and Mn, and enriched in Ni with increasing oxidation. Enrichments in the Ni-contents of kamacite and depletions in Si-content also occur with oxidation, although contemporaneous enrichments in Si within metal droplets occurs by partial melting. Assemblages dominated by Fe-oxide are found within fusion crusts as reaction rims on metal, as veins and within troilite-metal assemblages as droplets and formed by oxidation of metal during heating. Despite the evidence for large increases in redox state during heating, fusion crusts also contain lithophile sulphides indicating a high degree of disequilibrium during the atmospheric reprocessing of enstatite chondrite materials. Based on comparisons with experimental phase relations, ablation rates of 0.08–0.25 cm s−1 are predicted from the thermal gradients recorded in fusion crusts; these rates are broadly similar to those suggested for other meteorite groups.

Low-grade metamorphic rocks from the Meliata unit (Western Carpathians) are characterized by the presence of typical blueschist-facies minerals. In metabasalt, an early low-pressure assemblage (<0.5 GPa at 350°C characterized by muscovite and zoisite, is followed by high-pressure glaucophane, phengite, Na-pyroxene, chlorite, clinozoisite and Al-poor titanite, indicating pressures of >1.2 GPa at 450°C Na-pyroxene shows strong compositional variations between the end-members Jd4–70, Aeg10–49 and Q17–49, respectively. Phengite has high Si content of 3.5 a.p.f.u. The zoisite with Al2Fe (100[Fetot/(−2+Altot+Fetot)]) = 3–5%, is rimmed by clinozoisite, with a maximum of 75% Al2Fe, as well as being enclosed by glaucophane. The occurrence of clinozoisite, rimming zoisite, suggests that the transformation of orthorhombic to monoclinic epidote depends not only on the temperature but also on the pressure. In the studied metabasalt, retrograde phases reflecting greenschist-facies conditions are albite and chlorite. Some neighbouring metabasites may additionally contain actinolite and biotite.

Primary almandine and spessartine-rich garnet and zinnwaldite phenocrysts occur along with feldspar (plagioclase and sanidine) phenocrysts, in the rhyolite of Profitis Ilias, which is located on the SE coast of the island of Chios, Greece. The distinctive mineralogical composition of this rhyolite is described. Although formed in the back-arc tectonic environment of the Aegean volcanic arc, the Profitis llias rhyolite shows significant trace element compositional differences when compared with typical arc or back-arc volcanic rocks of the area. It shows extreme depletion in Sr and Ba and enrichment in Nb and Mn, and has much more affinity with A-type granites and particularly Li-mica granites.

Apparently, both zinnwaldite and spessartine-rich garnet can be generated as primary phases from a granite melt enriched in volatile constituents at low P–T. This granite melt could be the residual product of an un-exposed, earlier formed, typical back-arc granite of the area, enriched in volatile constituents from a subcrustal source above the active mantle of the eastern Aegean area.

The extensive and deep faulting in the broad eastern Aegean lithosphere section would have facilitated the rapid ascent of that volatile-enriched granite melt, the parent of the Profitis Ilias rhyolite.

Ludwigite from B-bearing iron ores in the Bergslagen area of central Sweden and in the coastal area north of Stockholm has been studied using chemical and single-crystal diffraction techniques. Structure refinements, completed for three crystals showing slightly different Al contents, in the space group Pbam (agreement factor: 2.42 ≤ R ≤ 2.79) indicate that: (1) octahedral M1, M2 and M3 bond distances are similar, although the calculated site population suggests that M1 and M2 are nearly completely occupied by Mg whereas M3 also contains Fe2+ and Fe3+; (2) in the M4 octahedron Fe3+ and Al dominate over Mg (and Fe2+); and (3) the distortion parameter, BLD, indicates that M3 is the most regular, whereas M4 is the most distorted octahedron.

Loparite-(Ce) is a ubiquitous accessory mineral in modally diverse albite-rich metasomatic rocks of the Burpala alkaline complex, Siberia. Compositionally, the mineral approaches the ideal formula NaREETi2O6 (REE = Ce > La > Nd > Pr > Sm), and contains minor CaTiO3 (<4.8 mol.%), SrTiO3 (<4.7 mol.%) and NaNbO3 (<6.4 mol.%), The mineral is pseudocubic [ap = 3.8815(3) Å], and produces an XRD pattern similar to that of synthetic NaCeTi2O6 [Pnma, a = 5.4517(4), b = 7.7058(9), c = 5.4333(6) Å]. The atomic coordinates and isotropic thermal parameters of synthetic NaCeTi2O6 refined from an XRD powder pattern using the Rietveld method, are given. At Burpala, loparite precipitated from an alkaline REE-rich fluid during the metasomatic alteration of earlier-formed intrusive rocks. In some parageneses, loparite was replaced by ‘metaloparite’ during the final stages of metasomatism. ‘Metaloparite’ has the empirical formula REETi2O6-x(OH,F)x·nH2O, and shows minor enrichment in Ca and depletion in Sr, compared to co-existing loparite. The formation of ‘metaloparite’ involved cation leaching, hydration and ion-exchange between loparite and a fluid. ‘Metaloparite’ is metamict at room temperature, but some samples regain the perovskite-type structure upon heating.

Pegmatites of the Fregeneda area, Salamanca, Spain, show a zonal distribution, from barren to enrichment in Li, Sn, Rb, Nb>Ta, B and P. They intrude pre-Ordovician metasediments which were metamorphosed to sillimanite-zone conditions near the Lumbrales granite. Field, mineralogical and petrographic data show the following zonal sequence from the granite outward: (1) barren pegmatites (pegmatites T1, T2, T3 and T4) with quartz, K-feldspar > albite, muscovite, tourmaline ± andalusite ± garnet; (2) intermediate pegmatites (types T5 and T6), characterized by the occurrence of beryl and Fe-Mn-Li phosphates; and (3) fertile pegmatites (dykes T7 and T8), with lepidolite, cassiterite, columbite, albite > K-feldspar, montebrasite and spodumene.

Tourmaline from different pegmatites shows significant compositional variations. Trace element variations in mica and K-feldspar suggest that the origin of the different pegmatitic bodies may be explained by three different paths of fractional crystallization of melts generated by partial melting of quartzo-feldspathic rocks.

The oxidation of chalcopyrite and pyrite was examined using Fe-K- and Cu-K-edge REFLEXAFS spectroscopy. The Fe XANES of the pyrite proved to be a very sensitive indicator of oxidation, revealing the development of a goethite-like surface species; the EXAFS data showed an increasing O:S ratio with the degree of oxidation and gave Fe–O distances of c. 1.9 Å. On the oxidized chalcopyrite surfaces, the development of Fe-O and Cu-O species was observed, with both the XANES and EXAFS revealing the progressive development of these species with oxidation. Differences in the sensitivity of the XANES and EXAFS to the degree of oxidation can be related to the degree of long range order and changes in the intensity of the pre-edge feature of the Fe are a function of its oxidation state and coordination geometry in the surface species.

Fresh and weathered pyrochlore from the Lueshe carbonatite complex (in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo) was studied by Fourier transfom infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and by a combination of FTIR spectroscopy and thermal analysis. The former was carried out in the spectral range 400–4000 cm−1. The spectra for fresh and weathered pyrochlores were very different. For the weathered pyrochlore, two bands were identified as OH vibration modes, one broad band with a maximum at 3413 cm−1 and another finer band at 1630 cm−1. The fresh pyrochlore does not show OH absorption bands. The presence of OH confirms the hydrated state of the weathered pyrochlore suggested by previous microanalytical work. The combination of FTIR spectroscopy and thermal analysis allows ‘real-time’ observation of gas emanations and solid-state transformations taking place during heating up to 800°C. For fresh pyrochlore, no solid transformation was detected, except a CO2 emanation from 242–576°C. For the weathered pyrochlore a dehydration was observed between 234–565°C followed by an exothermic peak in Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) curve at 604°C. This exothermic peak corresponds to the formation of a Nb oxide phase. At higher temperatures the weathered pyrochlore is partly decomposed, forming a dehydrated pyrochlore and a Nb oxide phase. The combination of FTIR and thermal analysis has provided useful information on both fresh and weathered pyrochlore transformations which has clarified our understanding of the water control of the structural stability of pyrochlore minerals.

A recent study of granitic gneisses in the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terrane from Dabie Shan, central China reveals that allanite-(Ce) is a widespread REE-bearing accessory phase. The microprobe analyses show that allanites-(Ce) have nearly uniform chemical compositions, with total REE contents ranging from 23 to 28 wt.% and a La/Ce ratio of 0.57–0.73. All allanites-(Ce) are replaced or rimmed by epidotes and commonly form a relatively REE-poor rim near the interfaces. The textural relations and mineral chemistry suggest that allanite-(Ce) crystallized prior to metamorphism and therefore was of igneous origin, whereas the surrounding epidote was the product of metamorphism. Granitic gneiss, composed chiefly of sodic plagioclase, microcline and quartz with minor amounts of Mn-rich garnet, biotite, low Si phengitic mica, epidote, chlorite and sometimes amphibole, was formed at 495°C and ∼5 kbar, corresponding to the retrograde metamorphism of UHP rocks. Accordingly, it is believed that granitic gneisses have not experienced UHP metamorphism. This implies that a large scale tectonic juxtaposition developed before the epidote-amphibolite facies retrograde metamorphism of UHP rocks during the late continental collision in Dabie Shan.

Composite populations of monazite-group minerals of both metamorphic and metasomatic origin have been discovered in thin layers of granulite-facies metabasites interlayered with metapelites, located in the Val Strona di Omegna region of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone, Italy. In addition to monazite-(Ce), which is uncommonly poor in Th and is probably formed by incongruent dissolution of apatite, these populations include members of the monazite-huttonite series. The latter minerals contain between 13 and 30.1 mol.% ThSiO4 [= huttonitic monazite-(Ce)], and are known from only half a dozen other occurrences worldwide. We propose that breakdown of primary monazite-(Ce) in the metapelites during granulite-facies metamorphism mobilized Th and the REEs, which were then transported by high-grade metamorphic fluids into the metabasite layers to form the Th-rich minerals of the monazite-huttonite series.

Gold of magmatic origin has been discovered in the lamproitic dyke of El Tale (Fortuna, Province of Murcia), a small outcrop of ultrapotassic rocks of tile Tertiary magmatic province of southeastern Spain. It is the first finding of gold grains in lamproite magmas from southeastern Spain, and indeed worldwide. Pure gold occurs only in the glassy groundmass as very rare spherules and globular grains (up to 5 µm). Despite the occurrence of gold grains, the bulk rock contains not more than ∼19 ppb Au.

The magmatic origin of gold is inferred from the heterogeneous distribution of the grains in the rock, the shape of the grains (which is comparable to that of gold grains crystallized experimentally from mafic liquids) and from the As-Sb-S-Cl-poor composition of the bulk rock. The Pd/Ir and Au/Pd ratios, little affected by the early segregation of olivine (∼10 vol.%), support an Au- and PGE-rich composition of the mantle source. The low fO2 (≈IW) and the complexing with F and alkalies probably favoured partitioning of Au and PGE into the lamproite magma.