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The alkaline province of southern West Greenland includes swarms of dykes described as kimberlites and lamproites (Larsen 1991), and these rock types are widely distributed in the Sisimiut–Sarfartoq–Kanger-lussuaq region (Figs 1, 2). Kimberlites and lamproites are potential carriers of diamond, and...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.523.5827 http://www.geus.dk/publications/review-greenland-01/gsb191p57-66.pdf |
Summary: | The alkaline province of southern West Greenland includes swarms of dykes described as kimberlites and lamproites (Larsen 1991), and these rock types are widely distributed in the Sisimiut–Sarfartoq–Kanger-lussuaq region (Figs 1, 2). Kimberlites and lamproites are potential carriers of diamond, and since the descrip-tion of the Sarfartoq carbonatite complex and the kim-berlitic dykes related to this complex (Larsen 1980; Secher & Larsen 1980), the Sisimiut–Sarfartoq–Kanger-lussuaq region has seen several campaigns of com-mercial diamond exploration. The latest and most persistent stage of exploration began in the mid-1990s and has continued to date, with varying intensity. Numerous reports of diamond-favourable indicator min-erals from till sampling, finds of kimberlitic dykes, and recovery of actual diamonds from kimberlitic rocks have emerged since 1995 (Olsen et al. 1999). A drilling programme in late 2001 confirmed the unusually great length and width of a magnetic kimberlitic dyke (Ferguson 2001). The alkaline ultramafic dykes within the Sisimiut– Kangerlussuaq and Sarfartoq regions intrude the bor-der zone between the Archaean craton and the Palaeo-proterozoic Nagssugtoqidian orogen (van Gool et al. 2002, this volume). This border is defined as the south-ern boundary of Palaeoproterozoic reworking of the Archaean basement gneisses. The reworking has affected the Palaeoproterozoic Kangâmiut dolerite dykes, which 57 Kimberlites and other ultramafic alkaline rocks in the Sisimiut–Kangerlussuaq region, southern West Greenland |
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