Diamond Found Beneath Earth’s Surface Contains Never-Before-Seen Mineral
A stock photo of a diamond. Image ID 208716685 © via Roberto Junior | Dreamstime.com
Scientists have recently discovered a never-before-seen mineral within a diamond that was dug up from deep under the Earth’s surface. Named ‘Davemaoite’ after geophysicist Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao, this is the first time the mineral—a high-pressure form of calcium silicate perovskite—has ever been found on our planet.
It’s been long thought that davemaoite makes up an abundant part of the Earth’s mantle, though researchers had yet to discover any evidence of its existence till now. This is because the mineral often breaks down into other components as it moves towards the surface, where pressure is significantly lower than deep within the planet’s crust.
The diamond, which hailed from Botswana, was formed over 410 miles under the Earth’s surface, causing an intact sample of davemaoite to be trapped within it. And thanks to this discovery, the International Mineralogical Association has finally confirmed the substance as a new mineral.
“The discovery of davemaoite came as a surprise,” the study’s lead author, Oliver Tschauner, told Live Science.
In the course of the study, Tschauner and his co-authors used a technique known as synchrotron x-ray diffraction to uncover the sample from within the diamond.
It makes use of high-energy x-rays, which are pointed towards certain spots to allow scientists to make out the composition of the minerals hidden inside. The daveomite only measured a few micrometers in size, and could’ve been easily missed if less precise sampling methods had been used.
“The work by Tschauner et al inspires hope in the discovery of other difficult high-pressure phases in nature. Such direct sampling of the inaccessible lower mantle would fill our knowledge gap in the chemical composition of the entire mantle of our planet,” said Yingwei Fe, a geophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science.
[via Live Science, cover image via Roberto Junior | Dreamstime.com]
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