Geologists have discovered what they refer to as young diamonds, after analyzing a number of rough diamonds.
It now appears the creation of rough diamonds, may have occurred later in the Earth’s history than was previously thought. Diamond requires extreme temperatures and pressures to form. Geologists though these conditions only existed in the early formation of Earth.
Small impurities in the diamonds could indicate the conditions in which they are formed. So 26 diamonds donated by the De Beers Group where analyzed by a research team in Amsterdam.
Sm-Nd isotope techniques are used by researchers to analyzed the sampled garnet inclusions, Which are a common mineral found in Earth’s mantle and sometimes within the diamonds.
The scientists discovered two sets of diamonds, one of Archaean age 2.95 billion years old thought to be the original source of the diamonds. And then surprisingly the other of Proterozoic age 1.15 billion years old.