'Quadrillion' tons of diamonds discovered deep below Earth's surface

A team of scientists made an enormous discovery when they recently uncovered a "quadrillion" tons of diamonds buried more than 100 miles below Earth's surface, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , Harvard, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and several other universities used to measure earthquakes in the Earth's crust.

composition of the rocks through which they travel, "MIT explained in a news release. "

HAWAII VOLCANO ERUPTION FORMS NEW LAVA 'ISLAND'" Scientists have used this relationship between seismic velocity and rock composition to estimate the types of rocks that make up the Earth's mantle, also known as the lithosphere. JUST OFF COAST

The scientists noticed a sudden spike in seismic speeds towards the bottom of 200-mile cratons, or sections of rocks found "beneath the center of most continental tectonic plates."

"Only one type of rock produced the same velocities as the seismologists measured: one that contains 1 to 2 percent diamond, "The scientists explained in the study."

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– Ulrich Faul

Therefore, scientists believe it's safe to make diamonds make up the bottom of cratons. They are present in a quadrillion tone wedged inside the ancient rocks.

"[Cratons] are like pieces of wood, floating on water," Ulrich Faul, a research scientist in MIT 's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, said in an online statement. "Cratons are a tiny bit less dense than their surroundings, so they do not get subducted back to earth."

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The diamonds help keep the miles-long rock formations stable

Unfortunately, there's no way to access the gemstones – as drills are unable to dig 200 miles into the Earth's crust. But researchers say it is not as rare as we thought.

"This shows that this is not an exotic mineral, but on the [geological] scale of things, it's relatively common. We're not getting there, but still, there's a lot more to that, "said Faul, who was more than 1,000 times predicted.