Diamonds Are Not Rare: Formation Deep Inside The Earth A Common Process

A recent study found that diamonds may not be so rare after all, noting that the formation of diamonds could actually be a common process deep inside the earth, according to a study at Johns Hopkins University.

"Diamond formation in the deep Earth, the very deep Earth, may be a more common process than we thought," said Dimitri A. Sverjensky, author of the study and geochemist, in a news release.

Sverjensky, and his fellow researcher Huang Fang, created a method where diamonds could be born in a natural chemical reaction. Their model revealed that diamonds can be formed with an increase in acidity during interaction between water and rock.

The new findings shows that water can produce diamonds if its pH falls naturally, where it become extremely acidic, while moving from one rock type to another, according to Sverjensky.

"The more people look, the more they're finding diamonds in different rock types now," Sverjensky said. "I think everybody would agree there's more and more environments of diamond formation being discovered."

It is almost impossible for researchers go to the depths of the earth to explore for massive diamond formations. These are formed about 90 to 120 miles under the earth's surface at intense pressure and temperatures at 1,650 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Sverjensky. For comparison, the deepest exploration drilling ever was only 8 to 9 miles under the surface.

The next step in the study is to examine the fluid movement deep inside the earth, which accounts for the carbon cycle on which all life on the planet depends on.

"Fluids are the key link between the shallow and the deep Earth. That's why it's important," Sverjensky said.

This study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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