There is evidence supported by geology that the Wyoming province could host a major diamond province. The Wyoming Craton is geologically similar to the Canadian Shield (North American Craton) where many rich diamond deposits sat in the back yard of Canadians until two individuals began to diligently search for diamonds in 1985. This led to the
In the late fall of 2014, the author published a new book published by CreateSpace an Amazon company, describes dozens of colored gemstone, diamond, gold and other minerals and rocks. The book lets the reader in on secrets used to find raw gemstones, diamonds and goldin field. One of several hundred cryptovolcanic structures identified in the
Chuck Norris’s cousin, Vic, digs for hidden kimberlite under grassy vegetationanomaly discovered by the Gem Hunter in the Iron Mountain kimberlitedistrict in Wyoming. Kimberlite is very difficult to recognize. It is basically a potassic peridotite and comes in a variety of colors and textures. Most notable is green kimberlite due to abundant serpentinized olivine. It
14.2 carat octahedral diamond from Kelsey Lake, Colorado (photo courtesy of Howard Coopersmith). In addition to the type of diamond we see at weddings, other varieties of extremely hard natural carbon are known including carbonado (polycrystalline) and lonsdaleite (hexagonal). These are all forms of carbon, as is graphite. But carbonado and lonsdaleite are very rare
Would you like to see a kimberlite volcano erupt? Me too! Watch the following animation – but don’t stand too close. These kimberlite eruptions are very explosive and at the point of eruption, likely have a gaseous emplacement temperature at the freezing point of water and velocities of Mach 3!!! KIMBERLITE PIPE eruption. Below are
Gem-quality pyrope garnet faceted from rough collected at ButcherknifeDraw near Green River, Wyoming. Colored gemstones were almost unheard of in Wyoming prior to 1977 other than some fabulous cobbles and boulders of jade, some petrified wood, a few agates and a couple of tiny diamonds that required a microscope to see. After I was hired
Large chlorite pseudomorph after garnet found in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Wyoming. The chlorite slowly replacedthe garnet and accepted the garnet’s crystal form. Much of Wyoming is underlain by Archean cratonic basement rocks and cratonized Proterozoic rocks that provide favorable geological environments for a variety of gemstones – notably diamond, iolite, ruby, sapphire, garnet, kyanite,
I love searching for diamonds. My first chance to explore for diamonds deposits occurred in 1977 when I was hired by Dr. Dan Miller of the WGS to appraise the newly discovered district south of Laramie. I ended up mapping the State Line district, found 9 diamond-bearing kimberlites my first 2 years & later mapped
Diamonds were discovered in Wyoming & Colorado in 1975 by Mac McCallum, Chuck Mabarak & the USGS. This lead to some exploration for diamonds. Associated with diamonds are a host of extremely rare mantle nodules & gemstones known as Cape Ruby (pyrope garnet), Cape Emerald (chromian diopside & enstatite) that are always overlooked by mining
A rockhound from Riverton mentioned opal south of town. The Cedar Ridge deposit lies along the highway & is cut by numerous oil field roads, no one had recognized that this place had one of the largest opal deposits on earth! A few old geological reports from 50 years ago briefly mentioned opal, so I
