determination diamonds is notoriously difficult , but a new discovery may have just made it that lilliputian bit well-off . inquiry has register that a much less sought - after treasure contains clues that can tell us if rhomb are likely to be nearby , and it could speed up the process of finding them .
“ adamant producer sometimes wish they were mine gold , atomic number 29 or some other raw cloth , because nothing is as complicated as finding and mining diamond , ” says Andrea Giuliani , Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich ’s Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology , in astatement . “ There ’s no method that guarantees that you will find diamond . ”
Rotten portion that mankind have decide we require so many of them , then , but the sideline of diamond has turned up all kinds ofinteresting scientific discipline . We ’ve already worked out that diamonds are only ever found where a mineral called kimberlite is obtain , but that is n’t even half the battle .
A diamond sticking out of kimberlite like this is considered a rare find.Image credit: ETH Zurich, Andrea Giuliani
“ Just looking for a kimberlite is like looking for a needle in a rick , ” Giuliani explain . “ Once you ’ve found it , then the arduous search for diamond really pose underway . ”
Now , it seems anothermineralmay have pelt along up the process as it ’s been discovered that there ’s a connection between olivine and diamonds . Olivine makes up around half of kimberlite rock , and it contains change concentrations of magnesium and iron . It ’s the composition ofolivinethat is crucial here , because it seems that olivine that ’s packing more atomic number 12 than iron is a skilful sign for diamond miners .
For olivine to be high in iron , melt has to penetrate the mantle , altering the composition of the rocks and wipe out diamonds in the process . Olivine that ’s low in smoothing iron and higher in magnesium has n’t undergo this geological process ( known as metasomatism ) , and so the diamond survive .
Pieces of olivine separated from kimberlite.Image credit: ETH Zurich, Andrea Giuliani
So , high iron ? You ’re probably out of luck , bud . But gamey Mg ? You ’re indiamond res publica , sister .
De Beers provide the written report with financial accompaniment and kimberlite samples , so they got early admittance to the results and are already using olivine analysis .
“ Our study shows that diamond remain intact only when kimberlites entrain mantle fragments on their way up that have n’t extensively interacted with premature melt , ” Giuliani resolve . “ The bully thing about this novel method is not only that it ’s bare , but also that it finally allows us infer why the previous methods worked . ”
The subject is published inNature Communications .
