Birch Mountains kimberlite field the Phoenix and Legend pipes. The diatremes within the field include: Birch Mountains kimberlite field The Birch Mountains kimberlite field is a cluster of kimberlitic volcanic pipes or diatremes in north-central Alberta, Canada that were emplaced during a period of kimberlitic volcanism in the Late Cretaceous epoch. As of 2011, 8 diatremes had been discovered in the field, and diamonds and microdiamononds had been recovered during sampling programs. The Birch Mountain (BM) kimberlite field was discovered in 1998 and lies about north of Edmonton and northwest of Fort McMurray. It is part of the Northern Alberta kimberlite province, along with
Volcanic rock grained matrix. Volcanic rocks often have a vesicular texture caused by voids left by volatiles trapped in the molten lava. Pumice is a highly vesicular rock produced in explosive volcanic eruptions. Most modern petrologists classify igneous rocks, including volcanic rocks, by their chemistry when dealing with their origin. The fact that different mineralogies and textures may be developed from the same initial magmas has led petrologists to rely heavily on chemistry to look at a volcanic rock's origin. The chemistry of volcanic rocks is dependent on two things: the initial composition of the primary magma and the subsequent differentiation. Differentiation