Diamonds from Outer Space: Geologists Discover Origin of Earth'sMysterious Black Diamonds (Forwarded)

National Science Foundation
Arlington, Virginia

Media Contacts:
Cheryl Dybas, NSF
(703) 292-7734

January 8, 2007

Press Release 07-001

Diamonds from Outer Space: Geologists Discover Origin of Earth's
Mysterious Black Diamonds

If indeed "a diamond is forever," the most primitive origins of Earth's
so-called black diamonds were in deep, universal time, geologists have
discovered. Black diamonds came from none other than interstellar space.

In a paper published online on December 20, 2006, in the journal
Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists Jozsef Garai and Stephen
Haggerty of Florida International University, along with Case Western
Reserve University researchers Sandeep Rekhi and Mark Chance, claim an
extraterrestrial origin for the unique black diamonds, also called
carbonado diamonds.

Infrared synchrotron radiation at Brookhaven National Laboratory was used
to discover the diamonds' source.

"Trace elements critical to an 'ET' origin are nitrogen and hydrogen,"
said Haggerty. The presence of hydrogen in the carbonado diamonds
indicates an origin in a hydrogen-rich interstellar space, he and
colleagues believe.

The term carbonado was coined by the Portuguese in Brazil in the mid-18th
century; it's derived from its visual similarity to porous charcoal. Black
diamonds are found only in Brazil and the Central African Republic.

"Conventional diamonds are mined from explosive volcanic rocks
[kimberlites] that transport them from depths in excess of 100 kilometers
to the Earth's surface in a very short amount of time," said Sonia
Esperanca, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division
of Earth Sciences, which funded the research. "This process preserves the
unique crystal structure that makes diamonds the hardest natural material
known."

From Australia to Siberia, from China to India, the geological settings of
conventional diamonds are virtually identical, said Haggerty. None of them
are compatible with the formation of black diamonds.

Approximately 600 tons of conventional diamonds have been mined, traded,
polished and adorned since 1900. "But not a single black/carbonado diamond
has been discovered in the world's mining fields," Haggerty said.

The new data support earlier research by Haggerty showing that carbonado
diamonds formed in stellar supernovae explosions. Black diamonds were once
the size of asteroids, a kilometer or more in diameter when they first
landed on Earth.

-NSF-

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IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/im...arbonado_h.jpg (1.75MB)]
Black, or carbonado, diamonds, came from outer space, geologists have
discovered. Credit: Steve Haggerty