Non-destructive in situ study of plastic deformations in diamonds: X-ray Diffraction Topography and µFTIR mapping of two super deep diamond crystals from São Luiz (Juina, Brazil)

Diamonds from Juina, Brazil, are well-known examples of superdeep diamond crystals formed under sublithospheric conditions and evidence would indicate their origins lie as deep as the Earth’s mantle transition zone and the Lower Mantle. Detailed characterization of these minerals and of inclusions trapped within them may thus provide precious minero-petrogenetic information on their growth history in these inaccessible environments. With the aim of studying non-destructively the structural defects in the entire crystalline volume, two diamond samples from this locality, labelled JUc4 and BZ270, respectively, were studied in transmission mode by means of X-ray Diffraction Topography (XRDT) and micro Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy (FTIR). The combined use of these methods shows a good fit between the mapping of spatial distribution of extended defects observed on the topographic images and the FTIR maps corresponding to the concentration of N and H point defects. The results obtained show that both samples are affected by plastic deformation. In particular, BZ270 shows a lower content of nitrogen and higher deformation, and actually consists of different, slightly misoriented grains that contain sub-grains with a rounded-elongated shape. These features are commonly associated with deformation processes by solid-state diffusion creep under high pressure and high temperature.