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In case you were not sure that the diamonds are not as unique or valuable as the advertisers want it, the next blow to Big Diamond may well have happened. With the help of sound waves, geologists have discovered a gigantic accumulation of precious stones in the Earth's interior, probably up to four million tons
The study has started when an international team of researchers set out to solve a long time. geological mystery. Scientists can deduce what types of rocks make up different parts of the planet by studying seismic activity. Basically, sound waves created as a result of earthquakes or volcanic rumblings will travel at different speeds through different types of rocks, painting a picture of what is going on there.
But a domain does not behave as expected. The cratons are the oldest and most immutable rock plates on the Earth (or rather the Earth), whose roots extend from the center of the tectonic plates to a depth of up to 320 km. The supposed composition of these pillars would produce faster sound waves, but not at the observed velocities.
"The measured speeds are faster than we think we can reproduce with reasonable assumptions about what exists," says Ulrich Faul, author of the study. "Then we have to say," There is a problem. ""
To understand what cratonic roots could be made of, the team studied the seismic data collected by the US Geological Survey and other organizations to create a 3D model of the propagation of these waves. through the cratons, then they simulated sound waves moving across a wide range of different rock type combinations to find the one that corresponds to the observed velocities.
Finally, a single rock recipe produces the same velocities The craters would need a diamond content of about one to two percent, the remainder consisting of peridotite and small amounts of eclogite.
This may not look like a lot of diamonds, but considering the total volume of craters on Earth, the team estimates that there could be up to four thousand tons of ore there – in Viron 1,000 times more diamonds than before. 19659003] "This shows that the diamond may not be this exotic mineral, but on the scale of things [geological] it is relatively common," Faul explains. "We can not reach them, but there are many more diamonds than we have ever imagined before."
The discovery is just the latest mine of inaccessible diamonds that show that gems are not so rare after all. They have been found in meteorites from long-lost worlds, raining on Neptune, floating in clouds around distant stars, and can even form entire planets.
The research was published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems .
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