The nickel is not found in every channel, nor is it found at every place along a channel. Although difficult to reconstruct, the nickel seemed to be found in bends in the channel or plunge pools beneath komatiite falls. In modern lava channels, these would be the places where the liquid lava would slow down. The nickel seems to be deposited by the komatiite liquid just as a river deposits its bedload sediment. Much of the komatiite story has been deciphered by comparing modern lavas and komatiites.
Hawaiian lavas seem to be the closest modern analogue.