Diamonds as old as the Moon are being blasted to Earth’s surface by ‘hidden lava reservoir’
DIAMONDS "unlike any other" are being blasted to Earth's surface out of volcanoes.
The precious gems, known as "superdeep diamonds", are stored at least 250 miles below our planet's crust above mysterious reservoirs of molten lava.
Scientists say they've found at least one such reservoir below Brazil – and suggest more could be scattered across the globe.
They're billions of years old, and experts are baffled over how they got there.
Research was conducted by experts from the UK, Canada, Australia and Brazil.
They analysed the chemical makeup of diamonds fired from volcanoes in the Juina region of Brazil.
Tiny traces of helium found in the diamonds come from deep pits of molten rock at least as old as the Moon.
At 4.5billion years old, they may even be as old as Earth itself.
Scientists reckon their finding solves a perplexing mystery over the Earth's structure.
Experts have long pondered over the existence of a vast reservoir of rock exists between our world's crust and its core.
The new study may finally provide proof they're there.
Dr Suzette Timmerman, a rock scientist at Australia National University, said: "Diamonds are the hardest, most indestructible natural substance known, so they form a perfect time capsule that provides us a window into the deep Earth.
"We were able to extract helium gas from twenty-three super-deep diamonds from the Juina area of Brazil.
"These showed the characteristic isotopic composition that we would expect from a very ancient reservoir, confirming that the gases are remnants of a time at or even before the Moon and Earth collided."
Dr Timmerman told The Sun there's no way of knowing how many diamonds are down there.
They likely sit in an area called the transition zone, which is between 250 and 410 miles below the surface of the Earth.
"This means that this unseen reservoir, left over from the Earth's beginnings, must be in this area or below it," Dr Timmerman said.
A timeline of life on Earth
The history of the planet in years...
- 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth
- 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
- 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
- 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
- 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve
- 530million years ago – first fish appear
- 470million years ago – first land plants appear
- 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
- 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
- 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
- 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
- 200million years ago – mammals appear
- 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve
- 130million years ago – first flowering plants
- 100million years ago – earliest bees
- 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
- 30million years ago – first cats evolve
- 20million years ago – great apes evolve
- 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear
- 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears
- 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
- 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
- 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
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Do you think we should go looking for the diamonds? Let us know in the comments!
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