Diamond News
Never-Before-Seen Mineral Found Inside a #Diamond Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is thought to...
World Diamond NewsNever-Before-Seen Mineral Found Inside a #Diamond
Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is thought to be the fourth most abundant mineral on the planet, but until recently, it had never been observed in nature. Above about 400 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, this elusive mineral becomes unstable. But as Michelle Starr of Science Alert reports, researchers have found a piece of CaSiO3 that managed to make it close to the surface of the Earth, encased in a tiny diamond.
The diamond sliver was discovered at South Africa’s Cullinan diamond mine, which is best known for yielding two of the largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels. According to Brandon Specktor of Live Science, the piece of CaSiO3 was visible to the naked eye once the diamond was polished, but an international team of researchers collaborated on analyzing the precious stone with X-ray and spectroscopy tests. They published the results of this analysis in the journal Nature.
READ MORE: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/never-seen-mineral-found-inside-diamond-180968431/#x9h74xiq3pXfWx8p.99
Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is thought to be the fourth most abundant mineral on the planet, but until recently, it had never been observed in nature. Above about 400 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, this elusive mineral becomes unstable. But as Michelle Starr of Science Alert reports, researchers have found a piece of CaSiO3 that managed to make it close to the surface of the Earth, encased in a tiny diamond.
The diamond sliver was discovered at South Africa’s Cullinan diamond mine, which is best known for yielding two of the largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels. According to Brandon Specktor of Live Science, the piece of CaSiO3 was visible to the naked eye once the diamond was polished, but an international team of researchers collaborated on analyzing the precious stone with X-ray and spectroscopy tests. They published the results of this analysis in the journal Nature.
READ MORE: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/never-seen-mineral-found-inside-diamond-180968431/#x9h74xiq3pXfWx8p.99
