Discovering Earth's Hidden Diamonds Just Got Easier Diamond
prospectors know that the secret to finding diamonds is to
locate rocks called kimberlites. A new study in Nature this week
may help them focus their search a bit more closely, and also
reveals a new understanding of the Earth's mantle. Kimberlites –
named after the South African town of Kimberley where they were
first diamond was discovered – are generally only found in very
old parts of the Earth's crust. They are the sites of small but
violent volcanic eruptions that brought material – including
diamonds – spewing to the surface. No one has ever seen a
kimberlite erupt – the most recent took place about 40 million
years ago, said study author Kevin Burke, a geologist at the
University of Houston. Scientists have known that kimberlites
beneath Earth's surface erupt when shifting tectonic plates push
them over plumes of heat rising from deep within the mantle. But
these plumes are confined to certain regions of the mantle.
Burke's work reveals the b