Science & Technology
Mystery diamond-filled rock found in Russia
By
T.K. RandallDecember 19, 2014 ·
13 comments
Diamonds are highly prized and extremely valuable. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 deror_avi
A strange chunk of rock containing 30,000 individual diamonds has been unearthed in a Russian mine.
The red and green tinted rock, which was found in the Udachnaya diamond mine in northeastern Russia, was deemed so rare and unusual that it was donated to science so that research could be carried out on its composition and origins.
"The exciting thing for me is there are 30,000 itty-bitty, perfect octahedrons, and not one big diamond," said geologist Larry Taylor. "It's like they formed instantaneously."
The sheer concentration of diamonds within the rock is millions of times greater than what would normally be seen in diamond ore. Scientists believe that the find could help reveal important new clues about the Earth's geological history as well as how diamonds in general are formed.
"The associations of minerals will tell us something about the genesis of this rock, which is a strange one indeed," said Taylor. "The reactions in which diamonds occur still remain an enigma."
Source:
Yahoo! News |
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Russia, Diamonds
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