It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

For The First Time Ever, We've Found a Deep-Earth Mineral Inside a Diamond

page: 1
55
<<   2 >>

log in

join
share:
+32 more 
posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:07 PM
link   

This small diamond sliver was found at South Africa's Cullinan diamond mine and it contains a mineral called Calcium Silicate Perovskite which until now has been theorised but never seen because it becomes unstable at surface pressure , now thanks to nature and a bit of luck scientists have a specimen to examine.
The diamond sliver itself is also quite remarkable because of the depth at which it must have been formed in order for it to capture the mineral , it's estimated the sliver was formed at a depth of around 700 kilometres.

"Nobody has ever managed to keep this mineral stable at Earth's surface," said geochemist Graham Pearson from the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "The only possible way of preserving this mineral at Earth's surface is when it's trapped in an unyielding container like a diamond."
Scientists have estimated that silicate perovskites constitute as much as 93 percent of Earth's lower mantle, but CaSiO3 had remained hypothetical up until this point. Now that we have our hands on this mineral, scientists will finally be able to study it in more detail.
The diamond it was found inside, just 0.031 millimetres across, is also a super-rare specimen.

Most diamonds are born much closer to Earth's surface, between 150 and 200 kilometres (93 and 124 miles) deep. But this particular diamond would have formed at a depth of around 700 kilometres, the researchers said.


Already, the discovery has revealed fascinating information about how Earth's mantle formed.
"Diamonds are really unique ways of seeing what's in the Earth," Pearson said. "And the specific composition of the perovskite inclusion in this particular diamond very clearly indicates the recycling of oceanic crust into Earth's lower mantle.

It provides fundamental proof of what happens to the fate of oceanic plates as they descend into the depths of the Earth." The research team polished the diamond, and conducted spectroscopic analysis to confirm that the mineral inside is, indeed, the elusive CaSiO3.
In the next phase, researchers from the University of British Columbia will be working to find out more about its age and origin.
www.sciencealert.com...


So in this case diamonds are a scientists best friend.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:24 PM
link   
thats so #ing cool man. its almost too hard to believe you know.

gonna get a gang of information off something .031 mm across from a depth of 700



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:26 PM
link   
a reply to: gortex

It's almost as if it were left for us on purpose. Just kidding of course.




posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:27 PM
link   
There's though to be at least one tectonic plate scrunched up inside the Earth's mantle. The only way the scientists found out it was there was to perform seismic tomography on the echoes from earthquake shockwaves.

greenplanet.eolss.net...



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:36 PM
link   
"Nobody has ever managed to keep this mineral stable at Earth's surface," said geochemist Graham Pearson from the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "The only possible way of preserving this mineral at Earth's surface is when it's trapped in an unyielding container like a diamond."


Seems as unobtainable as anti-matter... bet the scientists are stoked..

Now THIS is ATS material. Mysterious and new Bravo OP
edit on 8-3-2018 by Plotus because: Shezamm



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:38 PM
link   
That stuff may have been in other diamonds, considered a defect, the diamonds would be chopped apart if bigger or crushed to make diamond tools. It is just the first time they have probably verified it being in a diamond. I bet a diamond inspector has possibly seen some of this before. There are more often than not, flaws in diamonds. Nobody really paid attention to what impurities were in diamonds, so I doubt if this is the first.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:45 PM
link   
a reply to: gortex

Oh, they've encased the Perovskite in carbonite!



The fact that in 2018 we are still learning things about our home and neighborhood is amazing! I really think this is just beginning. As better space based telescopes are launched, ground based observatories are leveraged, and the combination of space-ground observations (thanks to computers for dealing with phasing and timing issues), we are going be amazed.

Then there is the ground beneath our feet. The mantle and the core... and minerals we haven't seen before! Perovskites are finicky which is why they are having a hard time putting them in solar panels. Maybe having a real sample instead of just a theoretical model will help that area of research. A super efficient solar panel using a sea-level stable Perovskite structure would make solar really viable!

It is like Mother Earth saying, "Here you go! Now stop polluting!"


edit on 8-3-2018 by TEOTWAWKIAIFF because: formatting



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:46 PM
link   
a reply to: rickymouse
Ya know, my Uncle and I prospected a bit, usually panning for gold, but looking at hard-rock too. I remember He once said " A fortune in precious stones has been walked right over and overlooked in the quest for Gold"....



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 03:49 PM
link   

originally posted by: Plotus
a reply to: rickymouse
Ya know, my Uncle and I prospected a bit, usually panning for gold, but looking at hard-rock too. I remember He once said " A fortune in precious stones has been walked right over and overlooked in the quest for Gold"....


I bet he was right. Fortunes have been lost because they were not even looked at many times.




posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 04:06 PM
link   

originally posted by: Plotus
a reply to: rickymouse
Ya know, my Uncle and I prospected a bit, usually panning for gold, but looking at hard-rock too. I remember He once said " A fortune in precious stones has been walked right over and overlooked in the quest for Gold"....

There are diamonds and all sorts of gems around this area. There was a diamond pipe where they built one magnetite mine here. The top of this place has been ripped off many times by glaciers and the rock crumbled. There are some nice stones in some of the rivers around here, but I am too old to get a rough diamond tester to go looking anymore. Some rubies and all sorts of other stones too. You just need to know what to look for. Lots of rocks made from dinosaur bones too, they look like rocks and actually now are rocks. Good for the garden. I have only seen a few that still had the shape though, and even those were kind of broken. I suppose that almost all of them have been crushed up by glaciers over the years. They do find whole animal skeletons where the glaciers have not crushed them, further south or west than we are.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 05:42 PM
link   
Impressive from a scientific perspective, but worthless as a girls best friend.

She is mostly interested in cut, clarity, color and carrot.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 06:09 PM
link   

originally posted by: rickymouse
That stuff may have been in other diamonds, considered a defect, the diamonds would be chopped apart if bigger or crushed to make diamond tools. It is just the first time they have probably verified it being in a diamond. I bet a diamond inspector has possibly seen some of this before. There are more often than not, flaws in diamonds. Nobody really paid attention to what impurities were in diamonds, so I doubt if this is the first.


Exactly what I was thinking.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 06:09 PM
link   

originally posted by: intrptr

Impressive from a scientific perspective, but worthless as a girls best friend.

She is mostly interested in cut, clarity, color and carrot.

Not this girl, give me something interesting to ogle! Not those over-hyped crystal clear examples of boring "meh" other women drool over.

Sold my wedding ring not too long ago, couldn't get it over my knuckle anymore (talk about being gobsmacked that my late grandmother's statement of knuckles getting bigger as I age was true)
I couldn't size it up, it had a band of pavé-set stones all the way around. Not the best quality on the block, H quality stones, I think they were. But it sparkled & had idiot women drooling over it while I'm all "You morons seriously think this is a multi-thousand dollar ring?!" But I wasn't heartbroken about selling it, it does no good sitting in the box collecting dust. Next band I get to replace it will have stones worth looking at, possibly opals or star sapphires. For the time being, the "placeholder" ring I wear has a gorgeous star sapphire, my late grandmother's favorite ring she gave me years ago. Much more interesting to behold than a diamond is.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 06:45 PM
link   
a reply to: rickymouse


Very Cool OP!

I heard a story, a long time ago, about someone finding a "rough" diamond in a parking lot by Detroit, from a jeweler friend of mine. Said he knew what to look for. I only half believed her. But she told me the same thing, about the glaciers and such.

@Nyiah, Yeah, never been a big diamond fan either. Had a star ruby ring, that had a double star, and thought it was the best ring I ever had. Unfortunately it was stolen.
But there are way prettier stones, like fire opals, than diamonds.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 06:50 PM
link   
OP or anyone.
How are they going to be able to determine the age? Seems it would be older than the diamond, right? So if they get into the diamond, will it turn to dust? And they can determine the age of the dust?
Really curious.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 06:58 PM
link   

originally posted by: intrptr

Impressive from a scientific perspective, but worthless as a girls best friend.

She is mostly interested in cut, clarity, color and carrot.


Maybe your girl, mine never wanted a diamond, still doesn’t.
Emerald, ruby and platinum.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 08:08 PM
link   
a reply to: Nyiah


Not this girl, give me something interesting to ogle! Not those over-hyped crystal clear examples of boring "meh" other women drool over.

Like you''d throw it away or something. Values is of course, in the eye of the beholder (wink)
edit on 8-3-2018 by intrptr because: bb code



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 08:10 PM
link   

originally posted by: Oaktree

originally posted by: intrptr

Impressive from a scientific perspective, but worthless as a girls best friend.

She is mostly interested in cut, clarity, color and carrot.


Maybe your girl, mine never wanted a diamond, still doesn’t.
Emerald, ruby and platinum.


Precious metals any day. Usually, stones are set in them. Good stones anyway.



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 09:25 PM
link   

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Nyiah


Not this girl, give me something interesting to ogle! Not those over-hyped crystal clear examples of boring "meh" other women drool over.

Like you''d throw it away or something. Values is of course, in the eye of the beholder (wink)

The article's stone? No, I'd just sell it & get something I actually like. My favorite stone of ANY kind is Lapis Lazuli, so I'd have no qualms buying it in a diamond's stead. I probably would't get that in a ring setting, I don't like "big" in this sense. Low physical profile or I don't wear it. To really see the details in Lapis, I'd either opt for a pendant or a carving



posted on Mar, 8 2018 @ 09:53 PM
link   

originally posted by: Oaktree

originally posted by: intrptr

Impressive from a scientific perspective, but worthless as a girls best friend.

She is mostly interested in cut, clarity, color and carrot.


Maybe your girl, mine never wanted a diamond, still doesn’t.
Emerald, ruby and platinum.



Silver here.

I have 2-24kt 1oz gold wedding rings, that have been sitting in a vault for the last 17 yrs. They are kinda over the top and shiny, I agree with her. Gaudy and for old peoples.

She doesn't wear dresses either.

She won't wear any, tho. Maybe for our 20th I will get us some simple silver bands.





top topics



 
55
<<   2 >>

log in

join