(PRESS RELEASE) No one has ever visited the depths of our planet. However, a team of researchers from the GIA and other institutions were able to gain incredible insight into the deep mantle, 660 km below the surface, by examining a diamond that actually drove a volcanic eruption to the surface.
Directed by Dr. Tingting Gu, a GIA postdoctoral researcher at the time of the research and now at Purdue University, the researchers, including GIA Vice President for Research and Development Dr. Wuyi Wang, examined an exceptionally rare type IaB diamond from the Karowe mine in Botswana. The 1.5ct D-color diamond inclusions, examined with advanced non-destructive methods including FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, revealed that water can be found at least through the zone of terrestrial transition (410-670 km deep) and in the lower mantle (more than 670 km deep).
When the diamond was sent to the GIA for evaluation (GIA sees millions of diamonds each year), researchers were intrigued by its unusual inclusions. These turned out to be very rare hydrated (water-containing) minerals, suggesting the presence of water much deeper in the earth than previously believed.
Speaking about the research, Dr Wang said: “Mineral inclusions in diamonds are the only materials in the Earth’s interior that we can directly analyze. Studying these minerals provides unique opportunities to understand the chemistry of “Earth’s interior. GIA has been actively contributing to this fundamental research.”
The Richard T. Liddicoat Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, established in 2014 in honor of the former GIA president, who was widely considered the “father of modern gemology,” offers researchers studying mineralogy, geology, physics , materials science and other fields related to gemology. access to GIA gemological data, equipment and the rare, unusual and large gems that enter the laboratories.
The paper was published at the end of September in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience; you can see a summary here. Popular Science published an article about the paper on September 27.
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In addition to Gu and Wang, a large GIA team contributed to the research, including research scientists and technicians, microphotographers, GIA executives and board members.