The Big Hole: Kimberlites, how do they form.
The origin of diamonds had been a mystery, until the discovery at Kimberley, in 1869, and miners and geologists realized that this was an actual source of diamonds.
Now they had discovered that they came from a specific type of rock, and it was given the name of Kimberlite after the town of Kimberley.
Kimberlite rocks are extremely rare and could only form in very specific conditions, found in very limited places in the world.
Kimberlites are the remains of violent eruptions of a very special kind of molten material from great depth within the the earth, deeper than any other known lava's.
The eruptions are extremely violent with the erupted material traveling up from the depths of the earth at supersonic speeds and drilling carrot shaped pipes to the surface.
Rocks from the depths of the earth are brought up with highly carbon dioxide enriched boiling material and this is how the diamonds arrive at the surface.
This process was limited to certain times and places and the pipes are found in clusters as depicted below. Kimberley is found in the clusters in the center of the map.
What goes on underground is actually quite complex as the pressure builds and and the molten material tries to find its way out.
Once the route to the surface is finally found the carbon dioxide enriched material sprays out like opening a champagne bottle.
Tearing at the side walls as it goes and increasingly enlarging the pipe as it gets closer to the surface.
These are the pipes that have been exploited around the world to provide the sparkling stones that brighten the eyes of prospective brides the world over.
Because these pipes are older than many tens of millions to hundreds of millions of years, many of the have been eroded away to differing levels. That is how the diamonds got into the rivers, where they had only been found, up until the discovery at Kimberley.
Nice job on this post, I think it has been my favourite of your s so far. Thanks a bunch for the education. Namaste :)
To be continued...
This is a fascinating article. I never realized that diamonds originated so deep within the earth.
Thank you for sharing @gavvet.
Glad to be of service...
Stunning post, I hope that I get to see a lot more mineral posts from you!
Perhaps, there is lots more to diamonds than meets the eye...
I am sure that there is a lot more facets to discover ;)
Interesting post @gavvet I never knew this. I knew the process of high pressure and heat made diamonds, but never learned about kimberlite or thought about how it ended up where we find it.
Each kimberlite pipe is unique, it's like sticking a syringe needle deep down into the earth lower crust and upper mantle and drawing out a multi billion year old sample. the things we have learned about the inner complexities and workings of our planet thanks to them are voluminous.... but more on that later.