Diatreme

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What is a diatreme? Also could someone please provide me with an example of one.

-- Eric Breindel (breindel@oswego.edu), February 21, 2001

Answers

A diatreme is when hot matter explodes, leaving the feeder channel below to be filled with breccia( when rocks are lithified). An example is the Shiprock, in New Mexico. It stands 515 meters above the flat lands.

-- pat kinsella (pkinsell@oswego.edu), February 21, 2001.

A diatreme is what happens after hot matter explodes out of a volcano which leaves an empty feeder channel, that feeder channel becomes filled with Breccia and that is a Diatreme.

Dan

-- Dan Lake (Danls1@aol.com), February 21, 2001.


A diatreme is a small but violent volcanic explosion that arrives at the surface at mach 2. (2x the speed of sound) The diatreme originates within the mantle, and when it arrives at the surface it may be carrying kimberlite, a diamond bearing rock. Diamonds are mined from diatremes.

-- Katherine Louise Knoblauch (katlk@hotmail.com), March 30, 2001.

A diatreme (also known as a phreatomagmatic breccia) is the column (or conduit or pipe) above which a maar-type (hydro) volcano developed. Such a breccia must have an identified juvenile magmatic component, which triggered the breccia event by interaction with a shallow aquifer or lake.

-- Mark Thomas (emtee3@aol.com), January 04, 2005.

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