  Galaxy clusters with a dense cooling core exhibit a central increase in the
metallicity of the intracluster medium. Recent XMM-Newton studies with detailed
results on the relative abundances of several heavy elements show that the high
central abundances are mostly due to the contribution from supernovae type Ia.
The dominant source is the stellar population of the central cluster galaxy.
With this identification of the origin of heavy elements and the observed rates
of SN Ia in elliptical galaxies, the central abundance peak can be used as a
diagnostic for the history of the cluster core region. We find for four nearby
cooling core clusters that the enrichment times for the central peaks are
larger than 6 - 10 Gyrs even for a higher SN Ia rate in the past. This points
to an old age and a relatively quiet history of these cluster core regions. A
detailed analysis of the element abundance ratios provides evidence that the SN
Ia yields in the central cluster galaxies are more rich in intermediate mass
elements, like Si and S, compared to the SN Ia models used to explain the heavy
element enrichment in our Galaxy.
