If you go far back enough in time, almost every state within the US has an ancient volcano.
One of these ancient volcanoes is located within the state of Arkansas, and is notable
because you can legally collect diamonds there.
You heard that correctly.
The volcano I am referring to is called Crater of Diamonds, which is located in the Crater
of Diamonds state park.
When I last visited the area, I even found two one quarter carat diamonds!
So, how exactly did this volcano form?
This video will discuss this ancient volcano, and mention what to look for if you decide
to prospect for diamonds in the region.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park and volcano is located in the southwest section of Arkansas.
Specifically, it is 2.5 miles south-southeast of the closest major city, Murfreesboro.
It may be difficult to tell today, but the Crater of Diamonds volcano truly used to be
the site of an ancient 2200 foot wide crater.
The diamonds within this crater formed long before the eruption which carried them to
the surface.
3 billion years ago, Earth looked like a completely alien planet, as it had no plants, no animals,
no complex life, and the process of plate tectonics had only recently started.
However, at the time, the area where Arkansas was today contained a piece of crust at the
interior of an ancient continent called a craton.
Underneath this craton was an unusually thick piece of lithosphere, which is the layer of
the mantle which is not liquid but rather a solid.
This lithosphere contained an abundance of various elements, including carbon in its
elemental form.
At higher levels in the lithosphere, this carbon crystalized as a mineral called graphite,
which is today used in pencils.
However, if the carbon crystalized at a much greater depth of 150 to 250 kilometers, it
would form a completely different mineral, diamonds.
For the next 2.9 billion years, this thick lithosphere remained underneath Arkansas.
Then, 95 million years ago, something changed.
Much of Arkansas was uplifted as a volcanic hot spot moved underneath the area.
This hotspot caused large amounts of molten rock in the upper mantle to push upwards through
the crust.
Due to the unusual composition of some of this magma, which had a very low silica content,
it rapidly raced upwards towards the surface at a speed of several hundred miles per hour.
When this magma hit the lower lithosphere, it melted some of the hardened rock, causing
already formed diamonds to become loose.
These diamonds were then carried upwards towards the surface at an incredibly fast speed.
On the surface, a series of increasingly shallow earthquakes continued.
Then, less than 2 hours after the entire sequence began, the magma had reached the surface.
This magma quickly interacted with a volume of groundwater, causing it to rapidly flash
to steam.
This steam then expanded in volume, until a massive explosion occurred.
As a tall plume of ash rose into the atmosphere, pyroclastic flows raced across the surrounding
landscape.
The eruption which had just occurred formed a 2200 foot wide volcanic crater called a
tuff ring.
Then, out of this crater, a large volume of magma erupted onto the surface, carrying with
it an abundance of diamonds.
This lava then cooled in the shape of a small volcanic cone.
Since then, approximately 160 feet in elevation of the original vent has eroded away.
Since diamond is the hardest known mineral, when the rest of the rock eroded away into
fine particles, it remained in crystalize form.
Today, these diamonds can be found in dirt surrounding this volcanic complex.
What you are looking for is a white, yellow, or brown crystal which had a bipyramidal shape.
That is, imagine an Egyptian pyramid on top, and then another one flipped upside down on
the bottom.
If you find a small crystal with that shape, you have likely found a diamond.
Very few of the diamonds within the park weigh more than a carat in weight, which translates
to one fifth of a gram.
However, on occasion, this famous park has made the news after a lucky visitor finds
a larger diamond, weighing up to 10 carats.
I recommend that you try your luck at this park, as even young children can successfully
find a diamond.
I hope that you enjoyed this video!
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