Melanie Kling & Lucas Valore

Where do they come from? Where do they go? Diamonds in Namibia
An indoor fieldtrip to Southern Namibia
by Lucas Valore and Melanie Kling

This May, Lucas and Melanie have had the opportunity to participate in a source-to-sink fieldtrip to Namibia as part of their training. There they saw and discussed where the source of the diamonds is, how and when they have been transported, and where they were finally deposited. During the fieldtrip they investigated locations in the Namibian desert and even the restricted government-controlled area, the Sperrgebiet, where the diamonds are currently mined.

This Wednesday they present some MARVELOUS photos from the fieldtrip and speak about the story of the diamonds. An important objective of source-to-sink studies is to disentangle overlapping forcing parameters and their individual impacts for stratigraphic and paleogeographic evolution. Therefore, they will also discuss a potential tectonic or climatic control behind the transport and deposition of the diamonds. Additionally, they promise
big outcrops due to minimal vegetation,
occasional antelopes and a story involving jackals,
spy-pictures from the diamond mines, and
insights on how the diamonds are mined.”