[Versatile]

Engaged Man Finds 3.9-Carat Diamond , Wis. Man Digging For Diamonds With His Fiancee Finds 3.9-Carat Stone At Arkansas Park - CBS News (broken link)

There everywhere! There everywhere! Not really; Go to the park and find yourself one or two. That 3.9er makes my 1/4 carat look real small. Only took me 20 minutes though.

[junkman18]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Engaged Man Finds 3.9-Carat Diamond , Wis. Man Digging For Diamonds With His Fiancee Finds 3.9-Carat Stone At Arkansas Park - CBS News (broken link)

There everywhere! There everywhere! Not really; Go to the park and find yourself one or two. That 3.9er makes my 1/4 carat look real small. Only took me 20 minutes though.

Someday we are going to have to try that. sounds like fun..

[Reactionary]

Went to Crater of Diamonds this summer; kids had a great time digging in the mud; I got some green volcanic rock and dirt

Overall good time, decent hotel (Queen of Diamonds), couple of good restaurants, friendly people, beautiful area.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by junkman18

Someday we are going to have to try that. sounds like fun..

Take a change of clothes and some trash bags to put the dirty ones in...wear your muck boots or Crocs (if summer). You're going to get dirty,

[boulder]

Crater of Diamonds State Park is some of the best fun a family with kids can have in the area - and a lot less expensive than a weekend in Branson.

We took a trip to the Crater of Diamonds last summer and my 5 year old daughter found a "40 pound diamond" (a.k.a. a huge Arkansas rock). She insisted it was a diamond and wasn't leaving without it. I got some funny looks carrying a basketball sized boulder out the gate at the end of the day.

For those with kids .... there is a wonderful water park with slides and pools at the Crater of Diamonds State Park that is so refreshing and fun for all after digging for diamonds in the hot sun.

[anjoe]

Just be sure to take old clothes & shoes to wear while you are digging. The red clay is hard to get our of your clothes and off of your car seats.

[Icy Tea]

One thing always puzzled me. Do diamonds occur in volcanic areas? If this was an old volcanic site, now extinct, is that why they find diamonds? And wouldn't other areas with volcanoes have diamonds also? The northwest, Yellowstone, Hawaii, etc.

[Poltracker]

What makes me mad is I was there that day!!!!! They also found two other tiny diamonds earlier in the day. Oh well, that 3.9 er will be about 1.3 carats after it is cut (if it can be).
The crater of diamonds was not formed by a volcano but a diatreme. Diatremes are sort of like volcanoes but they generally spew frozen detritus from the earth's crust instead. Freezing is due to extreme pressure exerted (gas explosion as opposed to lava).
The clay in the crater of diamonds tends to be green or grey from the lamproite. It every bit as nasty as the red clay over near the crystal mines at Mt. Ida.

[Versatile]

Another 4.0 Carat found on Monday! Take buckets with you to haul them off!!!lol

You really gotta try this. Great museum as well.

[Cowboybootnut]

It has been almost 20 years since I have been there. Been there twice. Once with family, thefirst time I was part of a geological group on a field trip.

The diamonds come from an old volcanic pipe, the magma for the volcano came up from a deep source in the earth.

An average of 2-3 diamonds are found each day.

I had fun going there, but don't count on finding any diamonds. Just enjoy the scenary, being outdoors, and watching other people, trying several methods to find diamonds.