(ORDO NEWS) — Geologists have determined that the diamond sample found in Botswana comes from a depth of 660 kilometers and it confirms the presence of a large amount of water inside the mantle.
It is extremely difficult to conduct research in the bowels of the Earth. But what is happening hundreds of kilometers below us can be recognized by indirect signs, for example, by the minerals that are carried out from there closer to the surface.
Recently, a one and a half carat diamond was discovered in the diamond mines of Botswana. Scientists have found that the diamond was formed at a depth of about 660 kilometers, according to the journal Nature Geoscience.
In total, geologists examined 12 microscopic inclusions in the diamond structure in the sample, studying them using X-ray and Raman spectroscopy methods.
This made it possible to detect in them minerals from the Earth’s mantle, such as ringwoodite, ferropericlase, and enstatite.
Thus, the combination of all three minerals told a lot about the circumstances of the formation of diamond and the appearance of inclusions in it.
Geologists have established that the sample comes from a depth of 660 kilometers. This is an extremely interesting area separating the lower and upper mantles, where a rather rapid change in its composition, density and other properties takes place.
The presence of ringwoodite, brucite and some other minerals in the identified sample indicates the presence of water even at great depths. This was assumed before, but now it is known that there is a lot of water in the transitional layer of the mantle.
The surface of the Earth is almost three-quarters covered by oceans, and no less water is hidden deeper. Maybe fairy tales about civilizations living deep underground are not so far from reality? After all, if they have their own oceans, then life is possible even in the bowels of our planet.
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