An American geologist has discovered that an obscure palmlike plant in Liberia seems to grow only on top of "kimberlite pipes", which are columns of volcanic rock extending deep into the Earth that are often loaded with diamonds.
The thorny plant "Pandanus candelabrum" only grows atop deposits of kimberlite, according to Stephen Haggerty, a professor at Florida International University in Miami and the chief exploration officer of Youssef Diamond Mining Company in a research paper soon to be published in the journal, Economic Geology.
Pandanus candelabrum, also called the chandelier tree, is the first known plant to indicate kimberlite. It's a species of screw palm found in tropical Africa.
Kimberlite is an igneous rock best known for sometimes containing diamonds. Kimberlite pipes are the most important source of mined diamonds today.
Not all kimberlite deposits contain diamonds, however. Only about one percent of the world's known kimberlite pipes are rich enough in quality diamonds to be worth mining, according to experts.
Haggerty said the discovery could be a game changer for Liberia and the region. There's one big problem that will prevent a diamond rush in Liberia, however.
This West African country is one of three countries that are the epicenter of the ongoing Ebola virus epidemic that has claimed over 11,000 lives as of early May. The other two Ebola-stricken countries are Sierra Leone and Guinea, both of which have borders with Liberia.
Until recently, there was no reliable way to locate these kimberlite pipes that can be just a few hundred meters in size and are located in parts of the jungle in Liberia.
Haggerty made the discovery in the Liberian jungle after returning to the country in 2010 to continue research he began in the 1970s. He eventually discovered a kimberlite pipe about 500 by 50 meters and later found four diamonds (two of them 20 carats apiece) in the soil above the pipe, according to Science magazine.
Haggerty's most striking observation was the discovery of that Pandanus candelabrum thrives on a unique mixture of minerals found in the kimberlite soil.
"For reasons that we don't yet know," he said, "P. candelabrum appears to grow only atop these diamond-rich deposits".
Haggerty hopes to use satellite mapping of the P. candelabrum to unearth new kimberlite pipes throughout Liberia.