Russian scientists are looking for ways to detect diamond ‘ghost pipes’

Scientists at the Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research belonging to the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCIARctic) are developing new methods of detecting diamond-bearing pipes, as they believe that traditional methods of exploration, including magnetic, gravity and electrical prospecting, have ceased to be effective.
Evgeny Yakovlev, Head of the FCIARctic Laboratory of Environmental Radiology told TASS that the new method being developed by the Center has already shown good results in finding diamond pipes that cannot be detected by standard exploration methods.
There are many such ‘ghost pipes’ in the Arkhangelsk Province and Yakutia, where the largest diamond deposits in Russia are located. To search for them, scientists combined radiogeochemical and seismic methods of exploration. The radiogeochemical exploration block included studies of emissions of radon, a radioactive inert gas that enters the earth's surface through faults and is contained in the soil.
“Those areas, which have developed kimberlite bodies and explosion pipes, contain a system of faults and fractures, so the volumetric activity of radon in these territories is very high, there are even abnormal radon halos formed there and, accordingly, we are trying to identify patterns and find a connection with the explosion pipes in order to use these halos to further develop our methods for detecting kimberlite bodies,” Yevgeny Yakovlev told TASS.
As part of the new approach to diamond exploration, the Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research is also applying microseismological studies, which, in combination with the radiogeochemical methods, are aimed at detecting the vertical projection of kimberlite bodies. Scientists note that such technology may prove to be more efficient and less costly than the conventional approach to diamond exploration.