(Image credit: Murray Rayner)
Live Science has a post about Australian diamonds. Western Australia is the source of 90% of the worlds pink diamonds. They are found in the Argyle formation, which formed about 1.3 billion (yes, billion) years ago. A paper in the journal Nature details the origin of these diamonds. While other diamonds derive their color from impurities, the color in pink diamonds comes from deformation of the crystal structure.
Now, new research suggests that the strange color and strange geology likely come from a similar origin, the plate tectonics of the planet some 1.3 billion years ago. Recent studies from other researchers suggest that these large-scale continental movements are important for bringing diamonds of other colors to the surface, as well.
"The breakup of these continents are fundamental at getting these diamonds up from these deep depths," said Hugo Olierook, a research fellow at Curtin University in Australia and lead author of the new study on the origin of the pink diamonds, published today (Sept. 19) in the journal Nature.
Pink diamonds are different from blue or yellow diamonds, which get their color from impurities like nitrogen and boron. In contrast, pink diamonds are colorful only because their crystalline structure has been bent. The Argyle also hosts a lot of brown diamonds, which get their color from an even greater deformation of the crystal structure.
"Pinks are, say, a small push, if you like," Olierook told Live Science."You push a little bit too hard and they turn brown."
