Diamond originated from sea salt?

Diamonds - precious stones associated with images of longevity and eternity. They are mutant rocks formed after billions of years of exposure to environments with extreme pressure and extremely high temperatures.

A common theory is that many diamonds are formed when the sea floor (part of an ocean plate) honors beneath the continental plates at submerged zones.

In this process, the ocean plate and all the minerals in the seabed sink hundreds of miles into the Earth's mantle, where they crystallize under temperature and pressure tens of thousands of times higher than on the surface. .

Finally, these crystals mixed with volcanic magma called kimberlite and pushed to the surface of the planet in the form of diamonds.

The proof for this hypothesis can be found in oceanic minerals with blue rocks - like the famous Hope diamond (with rumors of a cursed stone) because of their distinctive color.

Diamonds are opaque, translucent fibers with a small amount of salt, potassium and other substances in it.(Illustration).

However, these diamonds belong to the rarest, most expensive and in the deepest position on Earth, making it not easy to study them. But research published recently in the journal Science Advances has provided new evidence for the origin of the ocean's diamond.

In the study, the scientists observed saline deposits inside a much more common rock, called filamentous diamonds .

Unlike most precious diamonds commonly found on lovebirds, diamonds are opaque, translucent, with a small amount of salt, potassium and other substances in it. They are less valuable to jewelers, but are more valuable to scientists who want to discover the origin of diamonds.

'There is a theory that salt trapped in diamonds comes from seawater, but it's still unverified', said Professor Michael Forster, at Macquarie University (Australia) - the lead author of the new study. .

Because it is difficult to find the ancient origin of a real diamond, GS Forster and his colleagues tried to replicate the superheated, supercharged reactions that occur when the submerged minerals sink. into the Earth's coating.

The team placed marine sediment samples into a container of peridotite, a volcanic rock widely present in depths where diamonds are thought to form; Then, they exposed the mixture to the condition that high temperature and pressure are equivalent to what happens in the coating.

Researchers found that when the mixture was under pressure of 4-6 gigapascal (40,000 to 60,000 times the average atmospheric pressure at sea level) and temperatures between 1,500 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (800-1,100 degrees C ), salt crystals form almost identical properties with the salt found in diamond fibers.

In other words, when the ancient sea floor slid deep into the coating, the impact force created the perfect condition for diamond formation. (Diamond gemstones, made from pure carbon and without any sediment can be created in this way).

'We know that some salty fluids must exist around the developing diamond stage and now we have confirmed that marine sediments are in line with this hypothesis,' said Forster.

How do natural diamonds form?