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Diamond
Source - Kimberlite and Placer or Alluvial Deposits
Where are diamonds
found? Natural diamonds are found in one of the following environments:
Diamond
Source - How are Diamonds formed?
How are diamonds
formed and where do diamonds originate? What is the source of a diamond?
A Diamond is formed when extreme heat (temperatures of 2200
degrees Fahrenheit) and extreme pressure cause carbon atoms to
crystallize forming diamonds approximately ninety miles under the
earth's surface.
Diamond
Source - What is Kimberlite?
What is Kimberlite?
Kimberlite is a rock that occurs in ancient volcanic pipes. The
kimberlite rock is the most common host of diamonds.
Volcanic pipes, or channels are commonly referred to as kimberlites.
Kimberlite is the blue rock typical of these volcanic pipes.
When a volcano erupts diamonds are also deposited on, or
near, the surface the Kimberlite. The diamond deposits
discovered at Kimberley in South Africa were the first deposits where
this type of rock was recognized and was the source of its name.
Diamond
Source - What is a Placer or Alluvial Deposit?
What is a Placer
Deposit or Alluvial Deposit? Some of the kimberlite host rock is washed
away by streams and rivers and the diamonds and is deposited in the
stream sands in 'placer deposits'. The sediment deposited by
flowing water, such as in a riverbed, is referred to as an Alluvial
deposit. These deposits are caused by volcanic eruptions or by millions
of years of erosion caused by rainfall and snow-melt which unearth the
diamonds from their kimberlite source.
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