How natural diamonds are made

[kenny]

Not exactly a scholarly tome, but interesting.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170301-the-secret-of-how-diamonds-are-made-by-nature

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Thanks for posting Kenny. That's a nice little info graphic.

I did notice that in the illustration of what causes the different colors it shows blue being caused by nitrogen, which is incorrect. I'm guessing that was just a misprint and it was not caught by editors before publishing. Most blue diamonds are type 2b, characterized by an almost total lack of nitrogen. Boron impurities account for blue coloration.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Another piece of science news that caught my attention today was the discovery in Canada of what may be the oldest fossil record of life on earth. It dates back 3.7 billion years. Which means life had already begun on earth before the first diamonds were formed (between 1-3 billion years).

Kind of fun to think about.