Newly Discovered 'Super-Deep Diamond' Reveals a Rare Earth Mineral Inside

The Cullinan mine, located on a diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, is the world’s richest source of rare blue diamonds and has produced more than a quarter of the world’s diamonds that are greater than 400 carats. The massive mine is also a scientific treasure trove. As scientists report in Nature on Wednesday, the Cullinan mine’s massive diamonds aren’t just a luxury item but a clue to what’s happening at the deep core of the Earth.

In the paper, a team of international researchers report the rare scientific discovery they found in the mine: a “super-deep” diamond encasing the mineral calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3), which is the fourth-most abundant mineral in the Earth but has never been found in nature until now. Super-deep diamonds, the researchers tell Inverse, are a classification reserved for those rare diamonds formed between 200 to 1,000 kilometers into the lower mantle, so they are super rare too.

Source: Yahoo