Kimberlite
Rock made of olivine
Rare
A rare, shattered ultramafic rock from deeper in the mantle than any other, the main source of mined diamonds. Named after Kimberley, South Africa, where the Star of South Africa found in 1869 set off the rush that dug the Big Hole.
Rock
- Kind of rock
- Volcanic igneous rock
- Rock family
- Ultramafic rock (peridotite, serpentinite)
- Texture
- brecciated (angular fragments), porphyritic (large crystals in a fine groundmass)
- Also contains
- Phlogopite, Ilmenite, Pyrope, Diopside, Spinel
- Deposits
- Kimberlite pipe
- How it forms
- Melts 150 to 450 km down and erupts rapidly and violently, rich in carbon dioxide, punching carrot-shaped pipes through the crust and carrying up diamonds and mantle fragments.
- Uses
- Mined for the diamonds it carries.
Identity
- Also known as
- Yellow ground (weathered)
Crystallography
- Habits
- Massive
Physical properties
- Luster
- Dull
- Colors
- dark green, yellow
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Igneous, Volcanic
- Geography
- South Africa (Kimberley), Russia (Mir, Udachnaya)
Classification
- Rarity
- Rare
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- Kimberlite. Wikipedia.
- Mir mine. Wikipedia.
- M. R. Gillespie, M. T. Styles, BGS Rock Classification Scheme, Volume 1: Classification of igneous rocks (Research Report RR 99-06). British Geological Survey, 1999.
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