Forsteritic olivine and carbonate minerals, with trace amounts of magnesian ilmenite, chromium pyrope, almandine-pyrope, chromium diopside, phlogopite, enstatite and titanium-poor chromite. Sometimes contains diamonds.
False-color scanning electron microscope image of kimberlite from South Africa. Olivine crystals (green) are in a fine-grained matrix made up of clay minerals and carbonates (presented in blue, purple and buff colors).
Kimberlite, an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite, is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-carat (16.70 g) diamond called the Star of South Africa in 1869 spawned a diamond rush and led to the excavation of the open-pit mine called the Big Hole. Previously, the term kimberlite has been applied to olivine lamproites as Kimberlite II, however this has been in error.
Kimberlite occurs in the Earth's crust in vertical structures known as kimberlite pipes, as well as igneous dykes and can also occur as horizontal sills. Kimberlite pipes are the most important source of mined diamonds today. The consensus on kimberlites is that they are formed deep within the mantle. Formation occurs at depths between 150 and 450 kilometres (93 and 280 mi), potentially from anomalously enriched exotic mantle compositions, and they are erupted rapidly and violently, often with considerable carbon dioxide and other volatile components. It is this depth of melting and generation that makes kimberlites prone to hosting diamond xenocrysts.
Despite its relative rarity, kimberlite has attracted attention because it serves as a carrier of diamonds and garnet peridotite mantle xenoliths to the Earth's surface. Its probable derivation from depths greater than any other igneous rock type, and the extreme magma composition that it reflects in terms of low silica content and high levels of incompatible trace-element enrichment, make an understanding of kimberlite petrogenesis important. In this regard, the study of kimberlite has the potential to provide information about the composition of the deep mantle and melting processes occurring at or near the interface between the cratonic continental lithosphere and the underlying convecting asthenospheric mantle.
Kimberlite, an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite, is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town...
are usually largely composed of one of two characteristic rock types — kimberlite or lamproite. These rocks reflect the composition of the volcanoes' deep...
Kimberlite Diamond (Chinese: 金伯利钻石) is China's first diamond jewellery manufacturer and retailer with a nationwide sales network. Kimberlite Diamond was...
The Chidliak Kimberlite Province is located in the Hall Peninsula of southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The first kimberlite there was discovered...
Kimberlite tailings are waste materials left after the recovery of diamond from diamond source rock. The material has a particle size ranging from 20 mm...
The Lake Ellen Kimberlite is a poorly exposed volcanic breccia located about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Crystal Falls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...
The Elliott County Kimberlite (Sometimes called the Ison Creek Kimberlite) was discovered in Elliott County, Kentucky, by Albert R. Crandall in 1884 over...
surface in volcanic eruptions and deposited in igneous rocks known as kimberlites and lamproites. Synthetic diamonds can be grown from high-purity carbon...
алмазная трубка «Мир» kimberlitovaya almaznaya trubka "Mir"; English: kimberlite diamond pipe "Peace"), also called the Mirny mine, is an open pit diamond...
has recently been the site of several major diamond discoveries. The kimberlite pipes in which the diamonds are found are closely associated with cratons...
commenced in July 2008 and Koidu Limited’s mining lease for the Koidu Kimberlite Project was one of the first to be reviewed. A new mining lease agreement...
664998°W / 47.546065; -79.664998 The Lake Timiskaming kimberlite field is Canada's southernmost kimberlite field, located in Northeastern Ontario and western...
The Misery Kimberlite Complex is a diatreme cluster in the Northwest Territories of Northern Canada. It was formed approximately 56 million years ago by...
Lake kimberlite, discovered by Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson who had been prospecting in the region for almost ten years, having found kimberlite indicator...
The Kirkland Lake kimberlite field is a 165 to 152 million year old kimberlite field in the Kirkland Lake area of northeastern Ontario, Canada. Volcanism...
728. The optic angle is 58° to 63°. Diopside is found in ultramafic (kimberlite and peridotite) igneous rocks, and diopside-rich augite is common in mafic...
The Churchill kimberlite field is a kimberlite field near Hudson Bay in Nunavut, Canada. It was formed during three magmatic events between 225 and 170...
in certain basalts are of special interest along with diamond pipes (kimberlite), because they provide samples of Earth's mantle brought up from depths...
and origin of eclogite xenoliths from kimberlites". Lithos. Selected Papers from the Eighth International Kimberlite Conference. Volume 2: The J. Barry Hawthorne...
remote, subarctic landscape. It consists of four kimberlite pipes associated with the Lac de Gras kimberlite field and is located on an island 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi)...
The Attawapiskat kimberlite field is a field of kimberlite pipes located astride the Attawapiskat River in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, in Northern Ontario...
carats of diamonds. The Jwaneng Diamond Mine is situated within the Orapa Kimberlite Field. The heart of the mine lies the "Jwaneng pipe," a volcanic crater...
spessartine gemstones have been recovered from the Sloan diamondiferous kimberlites in Colorado, from the Bishop Conglomerate and in a Tertiary age lamprophyre...
quartz. Rare occurrences may include unusual surface deposits of maars of kimberlites in the diamond fields of southern Africa and other regions. Technically...
The Drybones Bay kimberlite pipe is a diamondiferous diatreme in the Slave craton of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is the largest diatreme discovered...
The Lac de Gras kimberlite field is a group of Late Cretaceous to Eocene age diatremes in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The Eocene (ca. 55-50 Ma)...
For the first 60 years of the 20th century, diamonds originated from kimberlite pipes and alluvial deposits in places such as Africa and some from South...
Island includes the Chidliak Kimberlite Province, which had been found to include kimberlite pipes of diamond-bearing kimberlite. The White Dawn is a 1974...
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