Thursday, August 18, 2011

Colorado, Montana, Wyoming - a major diamond province remains overlooked

North American Craton showing position of Wyoming Craton
Aerial photo over Twin Mountain Lake
 anomaly
A few of the Twin Mountain Lakes cryptovolcanic
structures. Note the white carbonate on the
shoreline.
Hundreds of kimberlites, lamproites, lamprophyres, diamonds and cryptovolcanic structures have been identified  in the Wyoming Craton that lies under portions of Colorado, Kansas, Montana and Wyoming. Some of the larger targets were discovered in the Twin Mountains Lake district adjacent to I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie by the author several years ago, and these remain unexplored. More than 50 cryptovolcanic depressions show structural control, carbonate-rich sediments (in an Archean crystalline terrain) and distinct depressions adjacent (east) of the State Line diamond district. These could potentially be kimberlites with untold amounts of diamonds.

To view these anomalies (some may represent some of the larger diamond pipes in North America) search Google Earth "Twin Mountains, Cheyenne West, WY 82059". I highly recommend that you also examine these on Virtual Earth in the Twin Mountains Lake - Twin Mountains area. 


Some of the first diamonds mined from Wyoming kimberlites within the Colorado-Wyoming
State Line district south of Laramie (photo by the author).