This outtake says something new:
Incidentally, although diamonds are often thought of as nature's hardest material, it turns out two other rare natural substances are harder — wurtzite boron nitride, which is formed during intense volcanic eruptions, and lonsdaleite, which is sometimes created when meteorites hit Earth.Follow OurAmazingPlanet @OAPlanet, Facebook and Google+. Original article at LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.
Shine On: Photos of Dazzling Mineral Specimens
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Sparkling Discovery: Antarctica May Contain Diamonds
By By Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor December 18, 2013 12:50 PM
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iew looking southeast from the locality of the kimberlite samples on the slopes of Mt Meredith, across …
[iframe tabindex="-1" id="yom-ad-LREC-iframe" src="http://l.yimg.com/rq/darla/2-6-9/html/r-sf.html" frameborder="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 300px; height: 250px; display: block; visibility: inherit; position: absolute; z-index: 10;" hidefocus="true" allowtransparency="true"][/iframe]Antarctica might have a new kind of ice — diamonds might exist there, a new study finds
The finding, detailed online Dec. 17 in the journal Nature Communications, suggests the gems could be found on every continent, researchers say.
Diamonds form under the immense heat and pressure found nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) below Earth's surface, in the planet's mantle layer, which is sandwiched between the outer crust and the core. Powerful volcanic eruptions bring these precious stones to Earth's surface, where they are embedded in blue-tinged rocks known as kimberlites.
Kimberlites can range from 10,000 to 2.1 billion years in age, and can have the deepest sources of any rocks on Earth's surface.
"Kimberlites in general inform us about conditions in the Earth's interior," said study lead author Gregory Yaxley, a geologist at Australian National University in Canberra. "Their geochemistry holds clues about the nature of the source rocks at these extreme depths." |
