PHYTOGEOCHEMICAL SURVEYS WITHIN KIMBERLITE BODIES

Abstract

Based on certain theoretical assumptions, the authors conducted surveys within the Daldyn kimberlite field, Daldyn-Alakit district, Yakutia, in the Udachnaya, the Dal'nyaya and the Zarnitsa pipes. A survey was conducted along the south side of an open-pit mine and along separate profiles, where the authors sampled needles and small twigs of larches (Larix daurica) of roughly the same age. Elements characteristic of the kimberlite-dispersion halo (Ti, Ni, Cr and Fe) were detected in relatively high concentrations in the halo zone around the open-pit mine. The results of phytogeochemical sampling in the vicinity of the Zarnitsa pipe also confirm the possibility of using the phytogeochemical method to outline kimberlite pipes.