[Rockhounds] Crater of Diamonds State Park

Sun Jun 13 13:00:26 PDT 2021

My apologies. The country is suffering from a major drought in most of the Western US, and even here in Illinois (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ <https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/>). I assumed that Arkansas was a bit closer to the west than it actually is. Nevertheless, it does look awfully hot there right now, and the only rain I see are isolated thunderstorms that are both unreliable and to be avoided, if possible. Rain is bad for creating mud, but apparently better for finding diamonds. I was there for spring break, so I feel it was significantly wetter then than it would be now. 

Florida is hardly a good barometer for the weather in the rest of the country!

> On Jun 13, 2021, at 1:22 PM, J Bryan Kramer <codeburner at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> " Given how dry it is, I don’t expect they would have this problem"
> 
> Is it dry in Arkansas? Here in Florida it has been rainimg every day for
> the last 10 days, and when we drove thru Texas into Arkansas three weeks
> ago they were getting rain every day. Louisiana had floods.
> 
> I see it's forecast for dry this week but rainy the following week. Darned
> hot tho.
> 
> BK
> 
> ““There exists a law…inborn of our hearts…by natural intuition. … If our
> lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any
> and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.””
> Cicero
> 
> J Bryan Krämer       North Florida, USA
> photos at: http://pbase.com/photoburner
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jun 13, 2021 at 1:01 PM Doug Bank <dougbank at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> 
>> I was there way back in 2008. We found a lot of jasper for tumbling,
>> although for some reason I always had a hard time getting it to take a
>> final polish. We also found a tremendous amount of mud ;-) I had to rescue
>> my 7 year old from the mud before he fell and broke his ankles. We rescued
>> his shoes as well, but the socks were left in a garbage can in the parking
>> lot. Given how dry it is, I don’t expect they would have this problem. On
>> the other hand, we also saw a few “industrial” type collectors, and they
>> all used water and a sluice / screen to search for the diamonds.  Looking
>> at my old pictures, I just see a lot of dirt, so a rock hammer or small
>> gardening tools to break up the soil would be advisable, as would be some
>> buckets, screens and gloves (though I think there are screens to be
>> borrowed while there) and sun protection.
>> 
>> I am sure there are hundreds of YouTube videos that will give accurate
>> information, at least about what the park looks like and the basic tools
>> that are needed.
>> 
>> I wasn’t in to UV and fluorescent minerals back then, but I am curious
>> what you might find there in the dark with a good 365nm light. Many
>> diamonds fluoresce, and if any of the ones in the visitor center
>> fluoresced, it might be fruitful to scan all the pebbles with a UV light to
>> highlight anything worth picking out of the dirt?
>> 
>> Of course it is also worth stopping in Hot Springs at one of the many rock
>> shops or one of the quartz mines. The Ron Coleman mine is still operating
>> and says they got a new load of dirt just a couple of days ago. We enjoyed
>> digging in the dirt there, with the only caveat being that when we were
>> there, the wind was really strong, which made it difficult to see and made
>> it very dusty.
>> 
>> As for whether there is kimberlite there, I don’t think so. In recent
>> years they have decided that the local rocks more closely resemble
>> lamproite than kimberlite, not that I could tell the difference. (
>> https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/554/dunndp029.pdf
>> <
>> https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/554/dunndp029.pdf
>>> )
>> 
>> Doug
>> 
>>> On Jun 13, 2021, at 9:18 AM, Herwig Pelckmans <
>> herwig.pelckmans at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Ron,
>>> I strongly recommend a visit, even if they decide not to go searching for
>>> diamonds afterwards.
>>> The visitor center is large, the staff very friendly and the displays
>>> highly educational. And they do have a geologist working there all the
>>> time, evaluating all the "diamonds" people find (and people find lots of
>>> them; only the geologist, most of the time does not agree with the
>> people.
>>> It's only every now and then, when a real diamond shows up, that his eyes
>>> start to twinkle and that he agrees with the person who told him they had
>>> found a diamond.
>>> Way more easy, and not that unimportant: there is a lot of kimberlite to
>> be
>>> found. I guess the next best thing, if you can't find the real McCoy ...
>>> Cheers, Herwig
>>> 
>>> Op zo 13 jun. 2021 om 15:38 schreef J Bryan Kramer <codeburner at gmail.com
>>> :
>>> 
>>>> Wear old clothes, gloves and a hat for the sun. The clay is difficult to
>>>> get out of clothing. People do occasionally find a stone most of the
>> time
>>>> the diamonds are brownish yellow but they are diamonds. Their website
>>>> probably has a lot more info.
>>>> BK
>>>> 
>>>> ““There exists a law…inborn of our hearts…by natural intuition. … If our
>>>> lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies,
>> any
>>>> and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.””
>>>> Cicero
>>>> 
>>>> J Bryan Krämer       North Florida, USA
>>>> photos at: http://pbase.com/photoburner
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Sun, Jun 13, 2021 at 9:28 AM hammerron <hammerron at hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Would anyone have any advice and tell what to expect when collecting at
>>>>> the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas (USA).  A friend of mine
>>>>> asked as they are considering a visit. I know nothing.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I see the information on their website but thought people on the list
>>>>> who have visited might give a good point on view on what to expect.
>>>>> 
>>>>> regards,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Ron
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