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"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...
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"....
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"....
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.