kimberlite Min.
(ˈkɪmbəlaɪt)
[Named, 1886, from Kimberley in Cape Colony + -ite1 2 b.]
The eruptive rock, or ‘blue ground’, which is the matrix of the diamond at Kimberley and elsewhere in South Africa; it occurs in cylindrical ‘pipes’, often having a diameter of several hundred feet, and of unknown depth.
| 1887 H. C. Lewis in Papers on the Diamond (1897) 50 There appears to be no named rock-type having at once the composition and structure of the Kimberley rock... It is now proposed to name the rock Kimberlite... Kimberlite is a rock sui generis, dissimilar to any other known species. 1899 Edin. Rev. Apr. 319 This ‘blue’ rock—named ‘Kimberlite’ by Professor Carvill Lewis—is really of a dull green tint, due to its impregnation with iron oxides. |