For the scientists, this is the most precious gift: a red and green ornamental stone 30 thousands of tiny diamonds. The rare stone was taken from the diamond mines Udachnaya, Russia, and was donated to science.
"The most interesting thing was 30 thousands of a little gem, a perfect octahedrons," said Larry Taylor, geologists from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who presented the invention at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
The concentration of diamonds in a rock is a process that is very rare compared to the formation of a diamond, which average only save 1-6 carats per tonne. One carat is equal to a fifth of grams, or 0.007 ounces.
Number of diamonds in the stone make Taylor and his research team stunned. "It can provide important clues to the geological history of the earth and the origin of the precious gem stones," he said as quoted from Live Science. According to him, the origin of precious stones is still very mysterious.
Scientists think that the diamond is born deep under the surface of the earth, precisely in the layer between the crust and the mantle. Volcanic eruptions then bring chunks of diamond-rich mantle to the surface. Most coats were destroyed during the trip and leave the crystal surface. "Stone Udachnaya a rare stone that is created during the journey," Taylor added.
Taylor in collaboration with researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences in the study of rock Udachnaya. Scientists examine the entire stone with X-ray tomography. Scanner technology is similar to a CT medical scanner, but the intensity of X-rays is higher. In this light, the diamond will appear with black color.
There are thousands of diamonds in different rock layers. Crystal size of 1 millimeter and form octahedral or two pyramids are glued together at the base. Other content in the form of garnet red, green olivine and pyroxene. Sulphide minerals is also present in this stone. A three-dimensional model formed by an X-ray revealed the diamond formed after garnet, olivine, and mineral piroksin.
The materials are then sampled and stored in a capsule inclusions. Scientists also incorporate an electron into the stone in order to identify the chemicals in it.
Overall, the findings suggest diamonds crystallized from a liquid subducted oceanic crust, which may consist of solid rock called peridotite. Subduction is the process when one of the earth's tectonic plates squeeze another slab underneath. Results of this study will be published Taylor and his colleagues in the journal Russian Geology and Geophysics.
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