How Are Black Diamonds Formed?
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Black Diamond Rarity
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Black, or Carbonado diamonds (Carbonado means "carbonized" or "burned" in Portuguese) are among the world's rarest diamonds. The term was coined in the mid-1700s by the Portuguese, in the regions of the Central African Republic and Brazil, where they are usually discovered. Diamond rarity is largely dependent on color, and black diamonds are not at all common. The diamonds are not really black, but instead contain dark inclusions that lend themselves to the black look of the gem. All the same, black diamonds are special, and new theories on their origin make them seem absolutely otherworldly.
Otherworldly Formation?
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Normally, regular diamonds form deep within the surface of the Earth. Hundreds of miles down, pressure and heat is enormously high, and this causes a mineral metamorphosis. The heat and pressure eventually turn carbon into diamonds, under the right circumstances. Usually, over time volcanic eruptions shoot the diamonds to the surface where they are then discovered. Black diamonds may have an altogether different origin however-and may not even come from the Earth at all. Two Florida International University scientists, Jozsef Garai and Stephen Haggerty, have hypothesized that black diamonds come from space. Their study, published in 2006, made use of infared-detection instruments to analyze hydrogen taken from black diamonds. This analysis found that the quantity pointed towards the fact that the minerals came-and were formed-before the formation of the Solar System and due to a supernova. As a result of the supernova, carbon-based cosmic dust from a region of carbon stars led to the formation of the black diamonds, which then rained upon the earth once becoming solid rock masses. Subsequent research by Haggerty and Garai has backed up their initial claims.
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Alternate Theories
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All the same, the verdict is still out on the origin of black diamonds. There are a number of alternate explanations that continue to exist, and likely more to come. For example, one theory is that meteoritic impact on the surface of the planet led to shock metamorphism, but there are other theories that stray away from Haggerty and Garai's ideas. One is that sudden uranium and thorium fission caused radiation to lead to diamond formation, and another is that high-pressure conditions within the planet's own interior led to the conversion of organic carbon meaning, black diamonds form the same way conventional diamonds do. As a result of these conflicting beliefs, there is no generally accepted view of black diamond formation held by the scientific community.
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