Kimberlites and other ultramafic alkaline rocks in the Sisimiut–Kangerlussuaq region, southern West Greenland

Abstract

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–Kangerlussuaq region (Figs 1, 2). Kimberlites and lamproites are potential carriers of diamond, and since the description of the Sarfartoq carbonatite complex and the kimberlitic dykes related to this complex (Larsen 1980; Secher & Larsen 1980), the Sisimiut–Sarfartoq–Kangerlussuaq region has seen several campaigns of commercial 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 minerals 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).