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Scientists believe that there could be more than a quadrillion tons of diamonds scattered beneath the surface of the Earth.
Diamonds were found by badyzing seismic recordings – essentially sound waves crossing the Earth triggered by agitated forces. Dr. Ulrich Faul, a researcher at MIT, explained that one of the many special properties of diamond is the speed at which sound waves pbad through the material.
"Diamond in many ways is special," said Dr. Faul. "One of its special properties is that the speed of sound in the diamond is twice as fast as in the dominant mineral of the upper mantle rocks, olivine."
Unfortunately for diamond hunters, minerals are buried more than 160 km away. ) Under the surface of the Earth – much deeper than any human exercise ever achieved.
Dr. Faul and his team discovered that the sound was moving much faster than could have been expected in sections of rock known as cratonic roots. The cratons are the oldest sections of rocks that are generally found under continental tectonic plates, and their roots – shaped like inverted mountains – extend up to 200 miles below the surface of the Earth
Diamond has many special properties, including how it transmits sound
The new study suggests that up to 2% of these roots can be composed of diamond, meaning that it There could be about a quadrillion tons (or 15 zeros) of diamonds scattered up to 150 miles below the surface.
This makes it very unlikely that the diamond can be recovered with current technology.
by humanity is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which took 20 years to reach a depth of 12 km before being abandoned with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The research of MIT and other universities published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems explains how scientists reached their conclusion.
Dr. Faul explained: "[Cratons] are like pieces of wood floating on the water, the cratons are a little less dense than their environment, so they are not subducted back into the Earth but remains floating on the surface.
"It is so that they preserve the oldest rocks. So we found that you just needed 1% to 2% of diamonds for the cratons to be stable and not runny.
"It is circumstantial evidence, but we have reconstructed it all.
from all angles, and it is the only one that remains as a reasonable explanation."
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