KimberliteKimberlites are volcanic eruptions that start deep inside Earth’s mantle, at depths

KimberliteKimberlites are volcanic eruptions that start deep inside Earth’s mantle, at depths of hundreds of kilometers. At that depth, carbon dioxide may not easily fit into the available minerals, and might instead sit as a (supercritical) fluid, in-between larger mineral crystals.Although there is considerable debate and variability from one spot to another, it is thought that kimberlite eruptions start when this fluid expands inside the Earth, reducing the density and starting to rise upwards. As it rises upward, the fluid expands more and eventually becomes a vapor, which rips through the mantle in a matter of hours and rises hundreds of kilometers.In the process, the kimberlite rips up and carries with it chunks of the mantle as xenoliths, pieces of foreign rock carried along as it moves. Many of these crystals are altered by the CO2 rich fluid, which also picks up water from the planet and the crust as it moves through.This rock is a kimberlite erupted in Siberia. It contains chunks of quartz-rich crustal rocks, chunks of heavily altered olivine from Earth’s mantle, and an igneous component that represents the carbon and silica rich fluid that carried the chunks upwards. This was a core drilled to determine its potential as a diamond source; carbon-rich mantle and rapid eruptions of the sort that lead to kimberlite eruptions at the surface are also the main source for diamonds found today.-JBBImage credit: James St. Johnhttps://flic.kr/p/2kabWkSWhat does a kimberlite crater look like?https://the-earth-story.com/post/129137345736/kimberlite-crater-this-photograph-captures-a -- source link

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