Diamonds and their mineral and fluid inclusions have long been recognised as key samples for understanding the Earth's mantle and processes that occur within it. The great antiquity of many diamonds and their tendency to form excellent natural capsules for their inclusions means that they are also able to provide unique information about the state of the Earth far back in time. Recently many new instrumental methods have been applied to the study of natural diamonds and their inclusions and as a consequence there is an ongoing re-evaluation and expansion of the scope of diamond research. In addition, novel experimental approaches are helping in the interpretation of observations on natural samples.

In this session we aim to the focus on novel approaches to the study of diamonds and their inclusions that have implications to our understanding of the history of lithospheric evolution and recycling of crustal materials. In particular, we aim to discuss questions such as: what is being dated by radiometric determinations of inclusions? what types of fluids are dominant in different diamond growth events? how long are diamond growth events and what periods of time elapse between them? what is the role of sulphide in diamond growth?

We invite submissions that use any aspect of diamonds or their inclusions to address any question concerning deep Earth processes. We particularly encourage submissions that include methodological developments in areas such as synchrotron methods, diffraction, Raman and FTIR, stable isotopes, radiogenic isotopes, trace element geochemistry and experimental studies of diamond growth.