Abstract
SINCE 1954 a prospecting programme for diamonds in the British Protectorate of Basutoland has led to the discovery of a new predominantly basaltic kimberlite province to the east of the micaceous kimberlite province in the Orange Free State of the Union of South Africa. The kimberlites are intruded into Karroo sediments and lavas and comprise both dykes and diatremes. Petrographically the kimberlites are similar to kimberlites in other parts of South Africa1,2 and they contain inclusions of eclogite, granulite, peridotite and ilmenite in addition to inclusions of the Karroo country rocks.
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References
Wagner, P., The Diamond Fields of Southern Africa (Johannesburg, 1914).
Williams, A. F., The Genesis of the Diamond (London, 1932).
Holmes, A., Amer. Mineral., 35, 773 (1950).
Higazy, R. A., Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 65, 39 (1954).
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DAWSON, J. Basutoland Kimberlites. Nature 189, 475 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189475a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189475a0
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