Technical Terms

Airborne geophysical survey:  measurement of the earth's physical variations over a pre-described area using either helicopter or fixed wing transport to carry the measuring device.

Alluvial:  pertaining to material eroded from its primary source, transported by natural earth processes and deposited in stream sediments.

Anticline:  a folded rock sequence that is convex upward.

Diamond indicator mineral:  a mineral that is formed under the same physical conditions as diamond, and is used to aid in the search for primary diamond deposits, e.g.. pyrope garnet, chromite, chrome diopside, ilmenite

Diatremes: are generally composed of kimberlite, This rather which usually consists of olivine, serpentine, mica, ilmenite, carbonates and other minerals. It was named after its discovery at Kimberley, South Africa

  Dredge:  a floating apparatus used in rivers to recover valuable minerals from stream sediments

Geochemical anomaly:  a concentration of one or more elements in rock, soil, sediment or vegetation markedly different from the normal concentrations in the surroundings

Geochemistry:  the study of the relative and absolute abundance of elements in the earth

Ground magnetic survey:  measurements of variations of the earth's magnetic characteristics using a ground-based magnetometer instrument over a pre-described area

Kimberlite:  a volcanic rock originating form the earth's mantle composed of olivine, phlogopite, diopside and minor accessory minerals, including occasional diamond

Lamproite:  a volcanic rock originating from the earth's mantle composed of olivine, diopside, phlogopite, richterite, leucite, sanidine, wadeite, and priderite, plus accessory minerals, including occasional diamond

Microdiamond:  a single diamond grain not exceeding 0.5 millimeters along its longest axis

Pipe:  a tubular o cylindrical rock body, usually vertical

Soil grid: a systematic array of points or lines along which soil geochemical samples are collected

Thrust fault:  fault in which the hanging wall appears to have moved upward relative to footwall, opposite of gravity, or normal fault (also called reverse fault)