---
title: "Kimberlite: meaning in gemology"
description: "Kimberlite is a silica-poor, magnesium-rich volcanic rock. Its rare eruptions carry diamonds up from the mantle to Earth's surface."
url: https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/kimberlite
image: https://digitalgemology.com/img/og-digital-gemology.png?v=d224fb01
---

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[Glossary](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary) · Treatments and origin

# Kimberlite

Also called kimberlite pipe

Kimberlite is a silica-poor, magnesium-rich volcanic rock. Its rare eruptions carry diamonds up from the mantle to Earth's surface.

## In more detail

Kimberlite magma forms deep in the mantle as a carbonate-rich melt. It occurs as dikes or pipes; lamproite is a related volcanic rock that also carries diamonds. Many kimberlites contain no diamonds. Most of Earth's kimberlites erupted between 250 and 50 million years ago.

## Related terms

- [Diamond](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/diamond): Diamond is a single element, carbon, with every atom bonded to four neighbors in a cubic crystal. It is the hardest gem, Mohs 10.
- [Natural diamond](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/natural-diamond): A natural diamond is a diamond that formed in the earth, about 160 km deep, under enormous heat and pressure. An eruption carried it to the surface.
- [Crystal](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/crystal-inclusion): A crystal is a mineral crystal contained in a diamond.

[All 369 terms](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary)