The earth is full of diamonds: a quadrillion tons In fact: Environment: Nature World News

Jul 20, 2018 6:58 PM EDT

It turns out that diamonds could be terribly common with more than a quadrillion tons of precious rock potentially hiding under the surface of the Earth.

Unfortunately, this infinite cache of diamonds is entirely

The Earth is full of diamonds

In the study published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems researchers reveal that of New seismic models suggest an abundance of diamonds in Earth's cratonic roots. The cratons are ancient, immobile rocks that extend across the crust and mantle, and their roots are known to be the deepest sections.

The team estimates that diamonds can represent 1 to 2% of the cratonic roots of the planet. "This shows that the diamond is not perhaps this exotic mineral, but on the scale of things [geological] it is relatively common," wrote author Ulrich Faul, a searcher. in the Department of Earth Sciences, Atmospheric and Planetary MIT, says in a press release from the university. "We can not reach them, but there are many more diamonds than we ever imagined."

Finding the Diamond Cache of the Earth

Faul and the other researchers discovered the secret hiding place of the Earth. , which are sound waves moving across the planet as a result of events that shake the ground such as earthquakes and tsunamis. As sound waves move at varying speeds depending on the temperature, density, and composition of the rock, geologists can reconstruct an image of the interior of the planet with seismic data

but this is not the case. Recent analysis has produced much faster sound waves than they should be. The anomaly piqued the interest of the team, causing them to search for the mysterious composition of cratonic roots.

According to MIT, researchers have created a three-dimensional model of seismic wave velocities by moving underground. Then, they tested a number of rocks against the sound waves to see which one would correspond to the velocities measured by the seismologists.

There was only one that made: a rock containing 1 to 2% of diamond, more than peridotite and even traces

This quantity of diamond is 1000 times greater than what was previously believed , but it should not change the density of the cratons

An interesting hypothesis, but there are skeptics

"It is circumstantial evidence, but we have examined all the possibilities, from all angles , and it's the only one that remains a reasonable explanation, "says Faul, but he also tells Gizmodo that it's still only a hypothesis.

After all, that would change a lot that geologists know and understand about the Earth right now.

Wendy Panero, a professor at the Earth Sciences School of the Ohio State University, explains that this quantity of diamonds under our feet bleed the carbon in the mantle, which in turn would have an effect on the scientists' knowledge of the evolution of the Earth's interior.

"[Two percent volume] far exceeds the amount of diamond found in the kimberlite rock, which is in the order of carats per ton," Panero, who is not involved in the project. Gizmodo notes, "I look forward to seeing more work in the region to see if this hypothesis will withstand further scrutiny."