Pink diamonds erupted to Earth’s surface after early supercontinent’s breakup

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pink-diamonds-erupted-to-earths-surface-after-early-supercontinents-breakup/

by LinuxBender • 3 years ago

72 26 3 years ago

It's crazy that some of the most valuable items on earth are made in huge quantities, whenever the plate tectonics feel like it. Makes you realize how limited our power over the earth is (except for the slow, plodding, yet disastrous pollution of the environment).

mcmoor• 3 years ago

Our power over biosphere is currently quite immense, our power over geosphere is practically nil

adolph• 3 years ago

For me, the term “power” denotes a combination of will and capability. The human impact on the biosphere often seems less than intentional, more bull in a china shop than ship’s captain.

But to agree, human impact on geological features is much more limited than biological ones. I can thing of just a few with very localized effects:

* water wells :: subsidence

* fracking :: small earthquakes

nayuki2• 3 years ago

How do you know that diamonds are made in huge quantities? The common knowledge is that it's rare.

bauruine• 3 years ago

Thats common knowledge because De Beers wants us to think that.

https://archive.ph/eFwVj

slashdev• 3 years ago

Diamonds aren’t rare. Diamonds that can be cost effectively extracted are rare.

2Gkashmiri2• 3 years ago

that only debeers diamonds are real diamonds and those "blood diamonds" are bad.

defrost3• 3 years ago

It's a fun paper from the (predominately) W.Australian Curtin University Geosciences mafia:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40904-8

The Argyle diamond mine discussed here is tapped out and closed these days (IIRC) - the red and pink diamonds it produced are still circulating and fetching a solid price.

eg: https://www.australiandiamondvalley.com.au/products/10ct-aut...

Diamond Dimensions: .10ct = 3.00mm diameter $79K (AU)

greggsy2• 3 years ago

What’s the mafia angle? They’re a respected university?

defrost3• 3 years ago

If you prefer substitute Cohort, Cadre, Group, Bunch, Gang, etc ...

I'm Australian, in geophysics, local, and have casual Australian speech patterns.

The bunch over at Curtin are pretty solid, they're a distinct mob from, say, Mike Dentith et al. over at UWA (same state, different university).

BetaDeltaAlpha• 3 years ago

Its a colloquialism for group of people involved in an enterprise or craft. Same usage as "The Paypal Mafia".

nayuki2• 3 years ago

This seems to be the inspiration for the Pokémon Diancie: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Diancie_(Pok%C3%A9mo...

xattt• 3 years ago

Pokémon characters must have been conceptualized and designed by quite a few people at this point. Each of those character writers will draw inspiration from various sources.

I’m not quite sure what to do with knowing it was “inspired” by a certain geological phenomenon. Yes, it might be a feel-good fact about a fictional character which might guide kids to learn about the world around them.

However, unless there’s some deeper aspect that carries through to character development, the Pokémon world can easily get filled with superficial characters with a disjointed “look at me, I’m so cosmopolitan” feel.

verisimi2• 3 years ago

Diamonds come a factory in China.

verisimi2• 3 years ago

https://www.statista.com/topics/1704/diamond-industry/#topic...

Diamonds also have a high industrial value. They are especially well regarded as a material for cutting and grinding tools due to their extreme hardness. Around half of all mined diamonds are not of gemstone quality and are used for industrial purposes. Today, the vast industrial demand for diamonds is mostly satisfied by synthetic diamonds (also known as lab-grown or lab created diamonds). Lab-grown diamonds are also increasingly being used in jewelry as an ethical and less expensive alternative to mined diamonds.

femdiya• 3 years ago

1.22 update:

Lolaccount• 3 years ago

Send me location.

Pink diamonds erupted to Earth’s surface after early supercontinent’s breakup

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