UBC Reports - Oct.16, 1997 -Diamond researchers first to publish findings
by Stephen Forgacs
Staff writer
UBC researchers are about to make diamond exploration history with the publication of evidence supporting claims that the Slave region in Canada's Northwest Territories may hold the biggest diamond find of the century.
What is most intriguing, however, is that the research results -- critical to the diamond exploration industry -- are being published, said Prof. Kelly Russell, head of UBC's Igneous Petrology Lab.
"Our discoveries and results on the Slave mantle are new to science. The irony is, however, that many industry labs have similar scientific results which will never be published," he said. "Our corporate sponsor, Canamara Geological, is remarkable in that they have provided us with valuable samples and are allowing us to publish the results more or less immediately.
"The major corporations won't give you the rocks. They're afraid of giving up a competitive edge. We're getting rocks that most petrologists would die for."
By analysing rock samples forced to the surface of the 2.6-billion-yr-old Slave craton -- a very stable portion of the earth's crust and upper mantle -- in explosive torrents of molten rock called kimberlite, petrologist Maya Kopylova and Russell have constructed detailed geotherms--geological profiles of the earth's temperature with increasing depth and pressure. They are also gaining insight into the composition of the earth's mantle in the region beneath the Slave craton.
"We're changing the view of the Slave mantle. Rather than a homogenous region of the deep earth, we are showing it to be diverse in composition and highly disorganized," said Kopylova, who studied in Russia and Australia and did post doctoral work in South Africa before coming to UBC....
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