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Does this mean that this beloved mineral might not be as special as previously thought, and thus lose its value?
No, since these diamonds are inaccessible: they are 145 to 240 kilometers below the surface of the Earth, in the "roots" of the cratons, which are large sections of rock.
The cratons are below most continental tectonic plates and have barely moved since ancient times, as described in a statement by MIT
The makers of this discovery belong to several universities around the world, and they have noticed the ostentatious hiding by observing the seismic waves beneath the Earth.
Because these vibrations can change, depending on the composition, temperature, and density of rocks, researchers can use these recordings to construct an image of the Earth's interior.
This is how they discovered that vibrations are occurring Waters produced by natural processes such as earthquakes and tsunamis tend to accelerate when passing through cratonic roots; the acceleration was greater than expected due to the fact that the cratons tend to be colder and less dense than the surrounding structures. It was an indicator of a presence that researchers were unaware of.
The team created a three-dimensional model of the velocities of seismic waves that traveled through the main skulls of the planet. Then, they created "virtual rocks" from various combinations of different minerals and calculated how fast the seismic waves would travel through these rock compositions.
Finally, they concluded that the best explanation of the observed speeds The subsoil, which differed from those predicted, was that 1 to 2% of the roots of the cratons were composed of diamonds, while the rest was composed of peridotite ( the main type of rock in the upper mantle of the Earth). ) "When the waves cross the Earth, diamonds transmit them faster than other rocks or less rigid minerals," says Joshua Garber, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California. Santa Barbara and senior author of the study.
Del1 at 2% of the roots of the cratons, rocks of the interior of the Earth, would be composed of diamonds.
Hypothesis alte rnativas
The explanation of diamonds is one of the possible explanations for this mystery, but it is not the only one. Therefore, scientists are not sure that this hypothesis is true.
Other researchers have suggested alternative but more improbable explanations: perhaps, these cratonic rocks are colder than the scientific literature suggests, which means that the rock will be stiffer and, therefore, the Seismic waves will travel faster through them even if they are not diamond.
In any case, it is exciting to see how our understanding of the depths of the Earth continues to advance.
Source: very interesting / MF
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