How Do Diamonds move to the Earth Surface?
Diamonds rise to the Earth's surface in rare molten rock, or magma that originates at great depths. Carrying diamonds and other samples from Earth's mantle, this magma rises and erupts in small but aggressive volcanoes. Just under such volcanoes is a carrot-shaped "pipe" filled with volcanic rock, mantle fragments, and some embedded diamonds. The rock is called kimberlite after the city of Kimberley, South Africa, where the pipes were primary discovered in the 1870s. One more rock that provides diamonds is lamproite.
The volcano that carries diamond to the surface emanates from deep cracks and fissures called dike. It develops its carrot shape near the surface, when gases separate from the magma, maybe accompanied by the boiling of ground water, and a violent supersonic eruption follows. The volcanic cone formed above the kimberlite pipe is very small in comparison with volcanoes like Mount St. Helens, but the magma originates at depths at least 3 times as large. These deep roots enable kimberlite to tap the basis of diamonds. Magmas are the elevators that carry diamonds to Earth's surface.
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