ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

AND THE

BULLETIN OF THE SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC'GEOLOGISTS

VOL. 77 NOVEMBER, 1982 No. 7

The Transportand Sortingof Diamondsby _Fluvialand Marine Processes

DONAI•D G. SUTHERI•AND

PlacerAnalysisLtd., 2 LondonStreet, EdinburghEft3 6NA, Scotland

Abstract

This paper describesthe systematicvariationsin size and quality of diamondsthat result

from transportby fluvialand marineprocesses.It isshownthat diamondsoriginatingin rather
restrictedsourceareas can be spreadacrossmany tens of thousandsof square kilometers.
Downstreamor alongshoretransportcan be followedfor severalhundredkilometers,with a
systematicreductionin averagediamondsizeaccompanyingsuchtransport.The diamondsize
distributionis progressively
modified with increasingtravel distance,and the quality of the
diamondsimprovesas inferior typesare destroyed.The accompanyingvariationsin crystal
form are outlined.Certain implicationsfor explorationprogramsare •nentioned.

Introduction to producegeneralstatementsthat are capableof

quantifieationand valid for all alluvial diamondde-
1N the late 1940s, productionof dia•nondsfrom al- positswherever they occur.
luvial sourcesrepresentedabout 40 percent of the
The Extent of Dimnond Distribution
world total.Thirty yearslater, alluvialdiamondpro-
ductionhad more than doubled,and despitethe de- The hardnessof diamond when subjected to a
velopmentof majornewkimberlitemines,it stillrep- grindingaction,its stabilityat relativelyhigh tem-
resentedmore than $0 percent of total natural dia- peraturesand pressures,and itschemicalinertness all
mond production. The economic importance of suggest that oncediamondis releasedfrom its pri-
alluvial diamondsis thus considerable,and it is fur- mary sourcerockit shouldtend to persistin the sed-
ther emphasizedby the fact that alluvial diamonds imentaryrecord.The brittleness of diamond,which
are of consistently
higher quality than diamondsre- leadsto shatteringunder a sharpimpact, will only
covered from the source kimberlites and also because act to reduce its size. Moreover, as has happened in
certain countries(e.g., Sierra Leone, Central African Ghana(Junner,1948),diamondsare ableto undergo
Republic)are economically largelydependenton the metamorphiceventsthat alter the surrounding rock
productionof alluvial diamonds.Furthermore, while typesand to be releasedto the fluvial systemat a
it is generallyconsideredthat kimberlite pipesrep- later date.
resentthe more promisinglongtermmining target, Thisability of diamondto withstandmostsurface
it isusuallythroughthe presence of alluvialdiamonds and near-surfaceprocesses is reflected in the large
that kimberlite source rocks of economic interest are size of many diamond fields. The fields of Sierra
first suspected. Leone,for example,coverabout 20,000 kms (Hall,
The wide distribution and economicimportance 1968)and thoseastridethe Zaire-Angolaborder,over
of alluvial diamondshave given rise to a large lit- 60,000 kms (Bardet, 1974). The wide distributionof
erature, but the great majority of the studiespub- alluvialdiamondsin certainregionscan be attributed
lishedare descriptiveand tend to concentrateon the in part to the occurrenceof multiple primary sources,
particular characteristicsof the local deposits.This as is the casealongthe River Vaal in SouthAfrica
concernwith the unique aspectsof the depositshas (Wagner,1914)and in Guinea(Bardet,1974),aswell
led to the continuationof the old adage that "dia- as to alluvial dispersion.Consideration,however,of
mondsare where you find them," and many mineral the Zaire-Angolaand Sierra Leone examplesestab-
explorationstrategiesare basedon the blanketsample lishesthat diamondscan be widely distributedfrom
coverageapproachthat this viewpoint implies. It is relativelylimited sourceareas.
the purposeof this paperto demonstratethat alluvial The diamondfieldsthat straddlethe Zaire-Angola
diamondsare as amenableto systematicanalysisas border are illustratedin Figure 1; the M'buji-Mayi
any othergeologicphenomenonand that it is possible deposits in Zaire are not consideredhere. In thisarea

Oa61-O128/S2/SS/161a-852.50 1618
1614 DONALD G. SUTHERLAND

20øE

nshoso

ZAIRE

ANGOLA

de Corvoiho
I 100km

FlC;.1. Thediamond fieldsof theZaire-Angola

border.Symbols:
1, alluvialdiamondworkings;
2,
kimberlitelocalities;
$, limitof occurrence
of diamonds
in Cretaceous
hostrocks;4, crystalline
basement
rocks;5, internationalboundary.Henriquede Carvalhohasbeen renamedSaurimo.Sources:
Bardet
(1974); Fieremans(1961, 1977); Reis (1972).

almostall the mininghasbeenof deposits relatedto during the Cretaceous.The concentrationof dia-
the presentdrainagenetwork,but as hasbeenmost mondsin the Cretaceous conglomerates is not suffi-
fully documented by Fieremans(1955,1961),the ini- ciently high to be of economicinterest,but the sub-
tial distribution of diamonds acrossthe area was ef- sequentreworkingand reconcentrationof the dia-
fectedduring the Cretaceous, when a massiveflu- mondsduringincisionof the presentriver system,
viodeltaicdepositwas built out into the seathat was alliedto a certainamountof transportfrom the kim-
thenslowlyrecedingfrom the Zairebasin.Fieremans berlitesby theserivers,hasresultedin the formation
(1961) was able to demonstratethat the diamonds of economically viabledepositsas much as 600 km
containedwithin the Cretaceous conglomeratic ho- from the source.
rizonsfocused
on an areain northernAngola(Fig. In Sierra Leone, which has limited areas of known
1) where numerouskimberlite bodieshave been dis- kimberlites,
no intermediate hostrockshaveplayed
covered(Friere de Andrade,1952;Reis, 1972). As anyrolein thedistributionof thediamonds alongthe
discussed
later in this paper,the diamondsdiminish presentriversor their formercourses (Fig. 2). The
systematicallyin size away from thesekimberlites; presentAtlantic-directeddrainagehasprobably been
thisobservation,
in additionto thegeographic
focus evolvingsincetheinitiationof Atlanticriftingin this
of the alluvialdiamonddeposits
on the kimberlites, areaabout185m.y. ago(Dalrympleet al., 1975)and
establishes
thismajordiamondfield asthe product musthavebeena well-developed riversystem by the
ofessentially
oneperiod
oferosion
anddeltabuilding timeof kimberliteintrusion about92 m.y. ago(Bar-
 TRANSPORT AND SORTING OF DIAMONDS 1615

g-

GUINEA

,gema

Ton(

ooo

8ON

0 km
ATLANTIC

12 11øW
I

FIe;.2. Thediamondfieldsof SierraLeone.Symbols:

1, areasof extensive
alluvialdiamondworkings;
2, localizedalluvialdiamondworkings;$, kimberlite;4, BullomGroupcoastalsediments;
5, international
boundary.Sources:
Hall (1968)and unpub.repts.,SierraLeoneGeological
Survey.

det, 1974). The regionaltectonicsituationis that of distributionof diamonddepositsin someareasaway

a slowly subsidingcontinentalmargin allied to a from the trunk streams,the Sewa and the Moa. Hall
steadilyuplifting watershedarea, and this has pro- (1968) hasarguedthat an unknowntype of diamond
duced an incisingriver network on the resultingre- sourcerock is responsiblefor the wide distribution
gional slope.This incision(perhapsacceleratedby of diamonds in SierraLeone.The systematic
changes
Quaternary climatic and sea-levelfluctuations)has in the sizeand characteristics
of diamondsalongthe
given rise to an apparentlysuperimposed drainage riversaway from the known kimberlites(seebelow)
network cutting acrossthe maior rock formations indicate, however, that while undiscovered sources
and showsclose correspondencewith more minor may exist,they are subsidiaryto the known sources
structural features at a local level. as suppliersof diamondsto the fluvial system.It is
River capture hasbeen relatively frequent in such therefore clear that since the Late Cretaceous dia-
circumstances,as the incisingriver network hasad- mondshave beentransportedfrom the known source
justedto the variationsin the underlying structural areasas far as the coastalBullomGroup sediments,
framework, and this has resulted in a rather wide a distance of over 200 km.
1616 DONALD G. SUTHERLAND

ZO

• Nomibson coast

'" .... Kasoi

"• Kwango
ß

'" • N'Go•r•

0.5 i

650 km

0.0
0 50 ,oo km
zoo ,;o 350 '

FI(;. $. The variationin averagediamondsizewith travel distanceß

ct/st = carat per stone.

Sorting During Transport thisvariationin sizewith distancedownriveror along-

shore.
During transportdiamondsare sortedby sizesuch
that the farther from the source, the smaller the av- In generalthe transportcurveshavea similarform,
erage size of the diamonds.In more detail the size a rather steeplydeclininginitial portionfollowedby
distribution of the diamonds may also be expected a more gentlydecliningtail. The final value,toward
to changewith transport,while the morphologicchar- which all the curvestend, is due in part to the min-
acteristicsof the diamondpopulationshouldalsovary imum recoverysize of the mining operations,but in
systematically.These three effectsare examined in somedepositsit is claimed that few diamondsoccur
turn. at smallersizes(e.g.,Hallam, 1964, p. 716). The rapid
initial diminutionin averagediamondsizeistoosteep
Size sortingin the directionof transport for the data to be representedby a simpleexponential
curve,and insteada goodfit wasfound with the fol-
In Figure $ the variationsin the mean sizeof dia- lowing modifiedexponentialmodel:
mondsalongthe directionof transportfor a number
of depositshave been plotted. Three of the deposits y = a. exp(-b. xU2),
representfluvial sortingprocesses: Kasai(Fieremans, where y is the average diamond size expressedin
1961), the KwangoRiver (Fieremans,1977), and the carats per stone,x is the distancefrom sourcemea-
N'Go•r• in the Central African Republic(Berthoum- suredin kilometers,and a and b are parametersde-
ieux and Delany, 1956).The otherdepositrepresents terminedby a leastsquaresmethodof curvefitting.
alongshoretransportby marine processes in the west In geologicterms,a is equal to the averagediamond
coastof Namibia (Stocken,1962). The N'Go•r• de- sizein the sourcearea (i.e., at x -- 0 km) and b is the
posithasdata for only about 50 km of transport;the decayconstantthat relatesto the rapidity with which
others have all been traced for hundreds of kilome- the averagesizediminisheswith transport.Curvesof
ters.The irregularitieson the graphsare likely to be this type have been fitted to the data in Figure g as
the result of nonuniformsampling,of local sorting well as to certain other unpublisheddata and give
effects, and most probably, of the introductionof goodagreementwith the observations. The theoret-
diamonds from secondarysourcessuch as in the icalcurvefor the Namibiandepositisshownin Figure
northern part of the Namibian deposits(Hallam, g, and the valuesof the relevant parameters'for all
1964). The term "transport curve" is proposedfor the depositsare given in Table 1.
 TRANSPORT
AND SORTINGOF DIAMONDS 1617

T^BLE 1. Parameters for the Theoretical Size Diminution

As shownin Table I there is closeagreementbe-
of Diamondswith Transport
tweenthevaluesof thedecayconstants, andalthough
therearerelativelyfew deposits
consideredhere,this Deposit a b
agreement
suggests
thatvaluesof b maybe similar
in other deposits.The value of the parametera is Namibian coast 1.93 0.16
Kasai 0.92 0.15
clearlyspecific
to a givensource
area.Themodelcan
Kwango 0.83 0.13
be appliedto a givenriver systemif the meandia- N'Go•r• 0.69 0.18
mond size in the sourcearea is known. Thus along
the River Sewa in Sierra Leone, if the averagedia- a = averagediamondsizein caratsperstonein the sourcearea
mond size recoveredfrom the alluvial depositsim- b = decay constant
mediatelyadjacentto the kimberlitesat Yengema
(Fig. 2) is assumed
to be about1 caratper stone(a
figuregiventhe frequentrecoveryof morefrequentlyreportednumberpercent.This has
notunrealistic
largediamondsin this area) and if the Sewais as- the advantageof beingin line with usualsedimen-
sumed to be analogousto the River Kwango in its tologicpracticeand of beingof greaterrelevanceto
the predictedaveragesize the economicassessment
transportcharacteristics, of the deposit. There is an
of diamonds about 170 km downstream is 0.18 carat artificial lower limit (40.01 carat) to the <0.04-carat
perstone,a figureclosetotheapproximately 0.2 carat classowingto the nonrecovery of very smalldia-
per stoneaveragesizerecoveredin prospecting op- mondsduringmining.With the exception of thefar-
erations in this area. thestdowntransportdepositin which there is a sig-
A finalpointshouldbemadeabouttheimplications nificantpercentage of diamondsin the lowestclass,
of thisgeneralmodel:if theaverage diamondsizein the weightpercentages in this class(whichaccord
the sourcearea is small,the rapid initial diminution with the smallnumberpercentages for similarclass
in sizesuggests thatdiamonds largeenoughto be of sizesreportedfrom otherdeposits, e.g.,Sichel,1975,
economicinterestmay only be foundwithin several table$) suggest that there •nay not in fact be many
tens of kilometers of their source, rather than the
diamondsbelowthis sizeoccurringin thesedeposits,
hundredsof kilometersexemplifiedby the abovede- althoughproblemsof recoveryandidentification of
posits. verysmalldiamonds makethisstatement difficultto
Variation in size distributions
verify.
A numberof syste•naticvariationsare apparentin
The above argumentsare basedon the use of a the size distributions.With increasedtransportit is
singlemeasureto providean estimateof diamond apparentthat, togetherwith a shifttowardsmaller
sizeat a particularlocality.Inevitablysucha measure diamonds, the distributions become much more
is rather imprecise, and it is more common in sedi- peakedand the tail of coarsedia•nonds that is very
mentologicalwork to considerthe sizedistributionof prominent in thenear-sourcedeposits
isprogressively
the particlesunder study, as this distributionmay diminished. In conventional statistical terms the de-
departsignificantly from normaland hencediminish positsshowan increasein sortingand kurtosiswith
the utility of the mean (or any othersinglestatistic) a decrease in skewnessas the mean size diminishes
asa summaryof the populationsize.This matter has with greatertransport.
an added importance in the considerationof dia- Thesesortingeffectshaveobviousimplications for
mondsbecausethere is a nonlinear relationshipbe- the prospectingof deposits
that are locatedat differ-
tween the size of a diamond and its value; a small entpartsof thetransport
curveaswellasfor ultimate
percentageof large diamondsmay representa very economicreturns.The greater frequencyof large
significantproportionof the mining income. diamonds near the source areas means not only a
It is thereforeof both geologicand economicin- higheraveragevalue(dollarsper carat)for the dia-
terest to note that there are systematic variations mondsbut alsonecessitates
that prospectingsamples
alongthe directionof transportin the sizedistribu- be largerandof greaterfrequency
thanthosein de-
tions of diamond populations.These variationsare positsthat haveresultedfrom greatertransport(cf.
depictedin Figure 4. In Figure 4a two size distri- Applin, 1972).
bution curvesare shownfor depositscloselyrelated Variations in other diamond characteristics
to their sourcerocks.Figure4b depictstwo deposits
that are from the middle portion of the transport A diamondpopulation is notjustcomposed of dia-
curve, while Figure 4c representsa depositin the mondsof differing sizesbut alsoof varyingcolors,
lower portionof the transportcurve. The sizedistri- crystalforms,and diamondtypes.Diamondpopu-
butionsare basedon the weight percentof diamonds lationsfrom different sourcesthus are composedof
occurringin the givenclassintervalsrather than the varyingpercentages of bort,octahedra,
dodecahedra,
1618 DONALD G. SUTHERLAND

4O TABLE2. Diamond Types along the River Sewa,Sierra Leone

(o) Locality Clear Coated Bort

•0 (wt %)
/'-'x._ - - n = 1700 ct
Yengema 50 45 5

20
I///X•\\- n=/.90Oct Upper Sewa
Middle
Lower
Sewa
Sewa
58
66
77
88
80
20
4
4

cleavagestones,translucentor coateddiamonds,etc.
, i I I I "l'-•
004 1 2 3 & 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 (Cotty and Wilks, 1971; Harris et al., 1975; 1979).
c! Transportof diamondsapparentlyaffectsthe original
populationby preferentiallydestroyingcertaintypes
and more easilytransportingothers.
50 lb)
Hall (1968)hasgivenfiguresthat relateto the per-
centagesof clear,coated,and bort diamondsat cer-
tain localitiesalong the River Sewa in Sierra Leone,
including the area around the kimberlites at Yen-
/"orl•\ .... n:3/,0Oct gema. Table 2 summarizesthese statistics.Quite
clearlythere is a preferentiallossof bort and coated
30
stonesduring transport. It seemsprobable that the
bort is lost by breakageinto tiny particles;in an ex-
periment with a ball mill, Linari-Linholm (1978)
20
showedthat only six hoursof milling was necessary
to reducebort diamondsfrom M'buji-Mayi in Zaire
to lessthan 60-mesh size (i.e., < 0.001 carat), while
10 after 950 hoursof milling, gem quality diamonds
from the coastaldepositsof Namibia lost only 0.01
percentof their weight. The consistentreductionin
0.04 1 2 3 /, 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
the proportion of coated diamondsdown the Sewa
ct may be due to the effectsof surfaceattrition, since
60 the greencoatingson the SierraLeonediamondsare
frequentlyrather shallowand are particularlybrittle
(Grantham and Allen, 1960). The proportions of
50 (c) cleavageand broken diamonds (in the sizesrecov-
ered) also decreaseswith transport; the Namibian
coastaldiamonds,for example,are more than 95 per-
centcomposed of wholecrystalforms(Hallam, 1964).
The dominant crystalforms of diamond in kim-
40r
*•30
I n:t,700ct berlite are the octahedron
(Harris et al., 1979). Transportappearsto favor the
dodecahedron as the depositsalongthe westcoastof
and the dodecahedron

South Africa have disproportionatelyhigh percent-

20
agesof this form. This effect is understandable in
termsof the mechanicsof initiation of particle move-
ment;the morenearlysphericaldodecahedral crystals
10 would become entrained more easily than the more
elongateoctahedra.Dodecahedrawill therefore be
subjected,on average,to a greaternumber of trans-
port eventsand will alsobe in motion longerduring
OJ3/. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 any one suchevent.
C! Surfaceabrasionfeaturessuchas percussionmark-
FIG. 4. Weight percentagediamondsizedistributionsfrom dif- ingsand roundedcornersmay be expectedto result
ferent partsof the transportcurve.a. near source.b. middle part from transport, but abradeddiamondsarealsowidely
of curve. c. lower curve. ct = carat. reported from kimberlites (Grantham and Allen,
 TRANSPORT AND SORTING OF DIAMONDS 1619

1960; Harris et al., 1975). This factor, togetherwith Thisanomalyof verylargeaverage-sized diamonds
the apparentlyvariableresponse of differentdiamond nearthemouthof theOrangeRivercanbe explained
typesto abrasion,suggests that there may be consid- if (1) the generaltransportmodeldoesnot holdfor
erable differencesin the degreeof developmentof the OrangeRiver, (2) the averagediamondsizein
thesesurfacefeaturesbetweenseparatedepositional the sourcearea is very high, or ($) there is a source
trainsthat are independentof the distancetraveled. (or sources) for a significantproportionof the dia-
In summary,it is apparentthat transporttendsto mondsmuchnearerthan the Kimberleyarea. There
increasethe quality of the diamonds,preferentially is no independentevidencefor the first possibility,
removingbort, mechanicallyweakerdiamonds,and while the secondis contradictedby the size of the
cleavagestones.The greater easewith which more diamonds that were recovered from the River Vaal
rounded forms are entrained also contributes to the workingsin the BarklyWestarea.The information
generalincreasein quality becausesuchdiamonds on diamondcharacteristics pointsto the third possi-
are likelyto sufferlessweightlossduringcutting.The bility, whichhasbeensuggested
elsewhere(Keyser,
absolutevalue (dollarsper carat) of a diamond pop- 1972)from an independentline of reasoning. The
ulation from a particular part of a transportcurve is lack of kimberlite satellite minerals associatedwith
therefore a balance between the reduction in size and thesediamonddeposits arguesagainsta nearbypri-
the increasein quality that are complementaryto the mary source,and it may be that the diamondswere
transport process. hostedin Karroo or older rocks and subsequently
freedby erosionassociated
with the downcutting
of
Discussion the Orange River.
Size diminutionduring transportationcan result
In the precedingsectionsthe generalfeaturesof from eitherthe preferentialcarryingof smallerpar-
the variationsin diamond populationshave been out- ticlesor breakageand attrition of larger particles.
lined. The data for thesegeneralizations have been Both theseeffectsoperateduring the transportation
takenfrom a variety of localities,includingexamples of diamonds,breakageand attritionbeingindicated
of both alluvial and coastaldeposits.An anomaly is by the disappearance of inferior quality diamonds
revealed,however,by the data on size diminution. and the roundingof the cornersof more resistant
This concernsthe coastaldepositsof Namibia. ones,while preferentialcarry is indicated by the
The decrease in diamond size northward from the changingproportions of crystalforms.The Namibian
mouth of the Orange River depicted in Figure $ is coastaldeposits are of particularinterestbecausethe
similar to the variations in size northward from the diamondsthere almostentirely exhibitcrystalforms
mouthsof the Buffels, Swartlientjes,and Olifants riv- and are not brokenor cleavagestones.Breakagecan-
ers along the west coastof South Africa (Hallam, not, therefore, be important in producingthe size
1964). These relationshipsare most easily explained diminutionalong the coast,which must be domi-
by the fact that the rivers are the meansof intro- nantly a sortingprocess.
duction of the diamonds to the coastal zone, after
whichalongshore waveactiontransports and sortsthe Conclusions
diamondsin a northerly direction accordingto the
dominant fetch along this coast.Certain diamonds This paperhasdemonstrated that diamondsfrom
relativelyrestrictedsourceareascanbe transported
recovered from the coast near the mouth of the Or-
ange River have been recognizedas very probably for manyhundreds of kilometers
anddistributedover
havingoriginatedin theKimberleyarea(Wagnerand tensof thousands of squarekilometerseitherby for-
Merensky,1928, p. 20), which implies a transport mer riversthat depositedintermediatehostrocksor
distance for some of the diamonds of at least 1,600 by rivercapturesrelatedto the evolutionof the pres-
km (seealsoWilliams, 1952). The averagediamond ent drainagesystem.Littoral processes are alsoef-
sizenear the mouth of the Orange River is, however, fectivein transporting
diamonds for hundreds of kilo-
over 1 carat per stone(Stocken,1962; Hallam, 1964), meters.
which is in marked contrastto the predicted small Duringtransportation
a varietyof effectshavebeen
diamondsizesthat shouldprevailafter severalhundred indicated.The averagediamondsizediminishesac-
kilometersof transport,accordingto the model pre- cordingto a modifiedexponentialrule, and thissize
sentedearlier and supportedby the size variation diminution is accompaniedby better sorting,an in-
along the coastnorth of the Orange River mouth. creasein the kurtosis,and a decreasein the skewness
Furthermore, the diamonds recovered from the ter- of the diamond size distributions.In general, poorer
racesthat flank the Orange River for over 50 km qualitydiamondssuchasbort,diamonds with inclu-
inland of its mouth also contain diamonds that av-
sions,
andcleavage stones
arepreferentially
destroyed
erageover 1 earat per stone(de BeersGeol. Dept., during transport,while the more roundedcrystal
1976). forms(suchasthe dodecahedra) appearto be more
1620 DONALD G. SUTHERLAND

easily transported.The general quality of the dia- du Toit, A. L., 1951, The diamondiferousgravelsof Lichtenburg:
mondsis thereforeimproved. SouthAfrica Geol. Survey Mere 44, 38 p.
The above effects are of considerable relevance for IVieremans, C., 1955, Etude g•ologiquepr•liminaire desconglom-
•rats diamantifb•resd'age M•sozoiqueau Kasai:Inst. G•ol. Lou-
diamond exploration (Lampietti and Sutherland, vain M•m., v. 19, p. 224-293.
1978), both at the regional scalein identifying pri- -- 1961, Origine et r•partition de la min•ralisationdiamantifb•re
mary sources or large volumealluvial targetsand at au Kasai occidentale(Congo) et dans le nord-estde la Lunda
(Angola):G•ol. Soc.BeigeBull., v. 70, p. 89-95.
the small scalein decidingon samplingpatternsfor
-- 1977, Het voorkomenvan diamant langsheende Kwango-
alluvial deposits.It may be presumed,for example, rivier in Angolaen Zaire:Acad.RoyaleSci.Outre Mer Brussels,
that depositswith a large proportionof inferior dia- Nat. Sci., v. 20, pt. 1, p. 4-28.
mondsand bort (e.g., the Lichtenburgdepositsin Frierede Andrade,C., 1952,On thediscoveryof a kimberlitetype
SouthAfrica, du Toit, 1951) have resultedfrom rel- of igneousrock in the diamondfieldsof Lunda: Internat. Geol.
Cong., 19th, Algiers1952, ComptesRendus,Sec.21, p. 55-61.
atively slighttransportationand are relatively close Grantham,D. R., and Allen, J. B., 1960, Kimberlite in SierraLeone:
to their source. The converse, however, need not be OverseasGeol. Mineral Resources,
v. 8, p. 5-25.
true, as the primary sourcemay be a high-quality Hall, P. K., 1968, The diamond fields of Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone
producerwith only a small proportionof inferior Geol. Surv. [lull., v. 5, 133 p.
Hallam, C. D., 1964,The geologyof the coastaldiamonddeposits
diamonds.If the qualityand the sizeof the diamonds
of southernAfrica (1959),in Haughton,S. H., ed., The geology
in a source area are known, the likelihood of there of someoredeposits in southernAfrica:Johannesburg, Geol.Soc.
being extensiveplacer depositsdownstreamof this SouthAfrica, v. 2, p. 671-728.
zone can be assessed.Thus a sourceexhibitinglow Harris,J. W., Hawthorne,J. B., Oosterveld,M. M., and Wehmeyer,
averagediamondsize and/or a high proportionof E., 1975,A classification
schemefor diamondand a comparative
study of South African diamondcharacteristics: Physicsand
inferior quality diamondsis lesslikely to produce Chemistryof the Earth, v. 9, p. 765-784.
placer depositsof economicinterestfor more than Harris, J. W., Hawthorne, J. B., and Oosterveld,M. M., 1979, Re-
several tens of kilometers downstream. gional and local variations in the characteristicsof diamonds
from somesouthernAfrican kimberlites,in Boyd, IV. R., and
Meyer, H. O. A., eds., Kimberlites,diatremes,and diamonds:
Acknowledgments Their geology,petrology,and geochemistry: Washington,Am.
Geophys.Union, p. 27-41.
Thanksare due to M. Dale, Placer AnalysisLtd., Junner,N. R., 1943, The diamond depositsof the Gold Coastwith
and D. Hodgson,Departmentof Geography,Uni- noteson otherdiamonddepositsin West Africa: Gold CoastGeol.
versity of Edinburgh, for commentson the initial SurveyBull. 12, 54 p.
draft of this paper. Keyset,U., 1972, The occurrenceof diamondsalongthe coastbe-
tween the Orange River estuary and the Port Nolloth reserve:
SouthAfrica Geol.SurveyBull., v. 54, 23 p.
REVERENCES
Lampietti,IV.J., and Sutherland,D. G., 1978, Prospecting for dia-
monds-somecurrentaspects:Mining Mag., v. 139, p. 117-123.
Applin, K. E. S., 1972, Sampling of alluvial diamond depositsin Linari-Linholm,A A., 1973,The occurrence, mining,and recovery
WestAfrica:Inst.Mining MetallurgyTrans.,v. 81, sec.A, p. 62- of diamonds:London,de BeersConsolidatedMines Ltd., 44 p.
77. Reis, E., 1972, Preliminary note on the distributionand tectonic
Bardet,M. G., 1974, G(•ologiedu diamant:Bur. RecherchesGeol. controlof kimberlitesin Angola:Int. Geol.Cong.,24th, Montreal
Min. [Paris]M•m. 83, v. 2, 223 p. 1972, Sec. Rept. 4, p. 276-281.
Berthoumieux,13., and Delany IV., 1956, Rapport sur la mission Sichel,H. S., 1973,Statisticalvaluationof diamondiferous deposits:
diamant Ouest Oubangui:Unpub. Rept., Central African Re- SouthAfrican Inst. Mining Metall. Jour.,v. 73, pt. 7, p. 2.35-243.
public, Dir. Mines G•ol. Stocken,C. G., 1962, The diamond depositsof the Sperrgebiet,
Cotty, W. F., and Wilks, E. M., 1971,Differencesbetweendia- SouthWestAfrica:GeolSoc.SouthAfrica Ann. Cong.,5th, 1962,
mondsfrom different sources:Diamond Research1971, p. 8-11. IVieldexcursionguide, p. 1-16.
Dalrymple, G. B., Gromm•, C. S., and White, R. W., 1975, Po- Wagner, P. A., 1914, The diamondfieldsof southernAfrica (1971
tassium-argon age and paleomagnetism of diabasedykesin Li- facsimileed.): Cape Town, Struik, 355 p.
beria: Initiation of central Atlantic rising: Geol. Soc. America Wagner, P. A., and Merensky,H., 1928, The diamonddepositson
Bull., v. 86, p. 399-411. the coastof Little Namaqualand:Geol. Soc.SouthAfrica Trans.,
de BeersGeol. Dept., 1976, Diamonds,in Coetzee, C. B., ed., v. 31, p. 1-41.
Mineral resources of the Republicof SouthAfrica, 5th ed.: Pre- Williams,A. F., 1932,The genesisof the diamond:London,Ernest
toria, SouthAfrica Geol. Survey, p. 17-30. Benn, 2 vols.,636 p.