High-Pressure Carbonaceous Phases as Minerals

Abstract

High-pressure carbonaceous minerals establish a link between one of the most abundant chemical elements and processes that occur at high pressures, either in the interior of the Earth or during shock-metamorphosis in space or on Earth. Diamonds from the Earth’s mantle carry inclusions of carbides, carbonates, methane, and carbon-dioxide. These inclusions elucidate diamond formation and the carbon recycling in the mantle. This chapter focuses on these inclusion minerals themselves, the means of detection, and the reconstruction of pressure-temperature conditions of their formation in the mantle.