” By utilizing laser beams smaller sized than the width of a human hair on rocks supplied by Rio Tinto, we discovered Argyle to be 1.3 billion years of ages, which is 100 million years older than formerly believed, meaning it would likely have formed as a result of an ancient supercontinent breaking apart,” Dr. Olierook stated.
” Argyle is located at the point where the Kimberley area and the rest of northern Australia smashed together numerous years prior, which sort of accident develops a damaged area or scar in the land that will never fully recover.
” While the continent that would become Australia didnt break up, the area where Argyle is positioned was extended, consisting of along the scar, which created gaps in the Earths crust for lava to soar through to the surface, bringing with it pink diamonds.
” As long as these three components exist– deep carbon, continental crash, and after that extending– then we believe it will be possible to find the next Argyle, which was once the worlds biggest source of natural diamonds.”
Argyles Significance in the Diamond World
Dr Olierook stated even with the knowledge of these three ingredients, discovering another chest of pink diamonds will not lack its obstacles.
” Most diamond deposits have been discovered in the middle of ancient continents since their host volcanoes tend to be exposed at the surface for explorers to find,” Dr Olierook stated.
” Argyle is at the stitch of two of these ancient continents, and these edges are typically covered by sand and soil, leaving the possibility that comparable pink diamond-bearing volcanoes still sit undiscovered, consisting of in Australia.”
Co-author and primary geologist Murray Rayner, from Rio Tinto, stated the Argyle volcano has produced more than 90 percent of the worlds pink diamonds, making it an unrivaled source of these desirable and rare gems.
” Knowing the Argyle volcanos age, at 1.3 billion years old, and positioned where some of Earths earliest continents fragmented, we have significant more insights into the formation of these diamonds,” Rayner said.
Referral: “Emplacement of the Argyle diamond deposit into an ancient rift zone set off by supercontinent breakup” by Hugo K. H. Olierook, Denis Fougerouse, Luc S. Doucet, Yebo Liu, Murray J. Rayner, Martin Danišík, Daniel J. Condon, Brent I. A. McInnes, A. Lynton Jaques, Noreen J. Evans, Bradley J. McDonald, Zheng-Xiang Li, Christopher L. Kirkland, Celia Mayers and Michael T. D. Wingate, 19 September 2023, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-023-40904-8.
The authors are affiliated with the John de Laeter Centre, the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group and the Earth Dynamics Research Group, which sit within Curtins School of Earth and Planetary Sciences. The work was made it possible for by AuScope and the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
The study was funded by the Geological Survey of Western Australia.
Scientists from Curtin University have actually recognized a crucial ingredient in the development of pink diamonds by studying the Argyle volcano. Along with the need for deep carbon and tectonic plate crashes, the stretching of continents throughout continental separations creates paths for diamond-bearing lava to surface.
Curtin University scientists studying diamond-rich rocks from Western Australias Argyle volcano have actually recognized the missing out on third crucial active ingredient required to bring important pink diamonds to the Earths surface area where they can be mined, which could greatly assist in the worldwide hunt for brand-new deposits.
Function of Stretching in Diamond Emergence
While it is known that for diamonds to form there requires to be carbon deep in the Earth, and for these diamonds to turn pink they must go through forces from clashing tectonic plates, the brand-new research study has discovered the third active ingredient needed for the presence of pink diamonds at surface area level, which is continents that were extended during continental break-up hundreds of countless years earlier.
Lead researcher Dr Hugo Olierook, from Curtins John de Laeter Centre, stated the stretching of landmasses created gaps in the Earths crust through which diamond-carrying lava might increase to the surface.