K-Ar age of the East Peripheral kimberlite at De Beers Mine, Kimberley, R.S.A.

Abstract

Summary. The kimberlite pipe at De Beers Mine, Kimberley is a complex, multiple structure. Three concordant argon-40/argon-39 age spectra have been obtained from samples from the 720 m level in the East Peripheral kimberlite. Each spectrum is dominated by a major plateau-feature between 84 and 89 Ma and none shows significant evidence of either excess argon or argon loss discrepancy. The available evidence suggests that the K-Ar age of normal magmatic emplacement-cooling of the East Peripheral kimberlite at De Beers Mine was close to 86 ± 2 Ma.