GIGANTIC KIMBERLITE?!?! 41.45 Pounds

[geotaughtme]

I found this monster in a kimberlite patch I was picking ( found by the plant I cant pronounce) Its smaller than a basketball (way smaller) and is over 40 pounds. I haven
t done density yet, just hosed with soapy water.

 

[geotaughtme]

 

[SusanMN]

Well it certainly is a big find! I don't know exactly what Kimberlite is, but I will keep fingers crossed that you found what you think you found.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I don't see any garnets, chrome diopside, olivine, etc.
Jim

 

[smokeythecat]

Almost looks like iron ore. There are only a few kimberlite areas in the US. Arkansas?

 

[huntsman53]

Almost looks like iron ore. There are only a few kimberlite areas in the US. Arkansas?

The O.P.'s rock does not look like any Kimberlite specimens that I have ever seen and actually has the appearance of an extremely large Iron Garnet.

There are a lot more unknown Kimberlite areas with Kimberlite pipes and deposits than most know or understand. There is a small Kimberlite pipe surface deposit and the pipe itself on a small island in a lake fairly near where I live. We are unsure as to where the volcano was located that produced the pipe. There were lots of volcanoes in North Carolina and a few along the Tennessee/North Carolina border over 100 miliion years ago and although none seemed close enough to have produced the pipe, I guess it is possible. There are numerous Kimberlite pipes that have not been or never will be discovered. Most of these have been long covered over by the erosion of the mountains and the volcanoes that created them.


Frank

 

[against the wind]

Well I looked up "Kimberlite"
Are you going to open it up and check for diamonds?

 

[vpnavy]

Nice find geotaughtme! Kimberlite From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Kimberlite is an igneous rock best known for sometimes containing 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, eventually creating the Big Hole...more...

 

[d2]

I don't know what Kimberlite is but if it is related to diamond mines we have a state park in Arkansas where you can come and look for diamonds and keep all you find...d2

 

[huntsman53]

For more info and pics on Kimberlites, click on the links below.

Diamond Deposits FAQs | Koidu Limited

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mining-materials/diamonds/industry/8163

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=kimberlite+pics


Frank

 

[geotaughtme]

Its definitely got a diamond, garnets and Density is about 3.97 (Use water displacement) so its not accurate. There was a patch of plants (the diamond indicator) pandanus candelabrum and there was no other plants anywhere except a few ferns. Found alot of fine gold in the dirt and a really old buddle pit or buddle pond where someone was prospecting (A LONG TIME AGO) this is close to the Mine I found an I have found many smaller baseball sized kimberlites in the area. I was wondering what all the shiny clear quartz was in my cons until I put some under a scope. I was beating the hell out of diamonds. This is a weird area along the fault. No gold, then every rock is full of fine gold, then flake gold, lots of clay, hard false bedrock etc.. I need to know what this is worth or if I should creck er open.

 

[geotaughtme]

 

[geotaughtme]

Heres a pic of close water 300 yards away

 

[kcm]

It's Christmas time - open 'er up!

You know, if you didn't want to go the whole "destruction" route, you could cut or have someone cut off a slab. Then the slab could be thoroughly inspected without destroying the entire piece.

 

[geotaughtme]

I have found all of these in western NC, and always under the (diamond indicator) plants.

 

[smokeythecat]

Still looks like a large iron rich garnet. There are a few mountains in the Adirondacks that have produced garnets the size of basketballs. I have been to one of those mines. The kimberlite I've had, when put in water, after some time, generally turns to muddy slurry, so your specimen should not be very hard. It should crumble easily. Needless to say, a garnet would be tough on a 3 pound hammer, but it will shatter...eventually. Diamonds have been found in the US in Arkansas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Alaska, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. The Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia occurrences are considered anomalies. The diamonds were probably carried in from elsewhere. Minnesota diamonds are probably glacial deposits, California diamonds are found in association with some of the gold mines out there. The Colorado mines were actually worked, and you can still buy specimens from there.

 

[arkhunter]

looks nothing like the Kimberlite in Arkansas that i have worked in many hours and have many pounds of samples.
looks to have a very high iron content.

 

[smokeythecat]

From what I remember, the diamonds in North Carolina are found in the eastern gold belt between Charlotte and Winston Salem, east of the mountains. Occasional diamonds and platinum are found there in alluvial deposits.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Still looks like a large iron rich garnet. There are a few mountains in the Adirondacks that have produced garnets the size of basketballs. I have been to one of those mines. The kimberlite I've had, when put in water, after some time, generally turns to muddy slurry, so your specimen should not be very hard. It should crumble easily. Needless to say, a garnet would be tough on a 3 pound hammer, but it will shatter...eventually. Diamonds have been found in the US in Arkansas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Alaska, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. The Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia occurrences are considered anomalies. The diamonds were probably carried in from elsewhere. Minnesota diamonds are probably glacial deposits, California diamonds are found in association with some of the gold mines out there. The Colorado mines were actually worked, and you can still buy specimens from there.

LOL...you left Idaho out. As I recall there was a 19.5 carat diamond found near McCall.
Jim

 

[huntsman53]

After reading the latest posts by geotaughtme, I went back and view all of the pics again, looking for things that stand out. While I could not see any evidence of Diamonds on the rock, I did see what appears to be impure Iron Garnet nodules covering much of the rock and some areas with what appears to be pink Sapphires as well as some impure Tourmaline. I have found somewhat similar rocks in a creek off the backside of Chunky Gal Mountain in North Carolina (a location where Sapphires and Rubies were previously mined and can still be found in it's Smaragdite host rock) and I now believe that the O.P.'s rock is a highly compressed conglomerate of Garnets, pink Sapphires, Tourmaline, Iron and possibly Topaz or White Sapphires. This conglomerate rock was likely formed under intense heat and pressure from the weight of trillions of tons of a volcanic mountain sitting on top of it. This would explain the density and weight. A friend cut one of my' baseball sized stones in half and burnt up two Diamond Saw blades doing so. Even though my' stone was originally the size of a baseball, it weighed in at close to 5 pounds. I still have my' specimens somewhere around the house and if I knew where, I would dig them out and take pics. My' specimens have off-white, brownish and somewhat pinkish/brown Sapphires mostly on the inside but some show externally.


Frank