Australian Diamonds Cause Debate About Composition of the Early Earth

Scientists for the most part still think that the Earth may not have cooled sufficiently for form a crust 4.25 billion years ago. Diamonds found in the West Country of Australia have forced scientist to rethink their current assumptions about the composition of the early Earth at about the time the diamonds formed. White gold, as they are sometimes called are known to form under examples of extreme pressure and fans of the Superman movies may recall that in one of them he used his hands to turn a lump of coal into the precious substance.

The diamonds found are most similar to high pressure diamonds which are formed during a subduction process. The findings mean that tectonic plates, which currently rest at the bottom of the Earth's crust. The composition of the stones suggest not only might the plates that circle the core of the Earth today might have been formed earlier than originally thought.

The examination of the diamonds does not yet change current theories about the origins of the early Earth but does cause a controversy on exactly when the Earth's crust formed. The period that started roughly 4.5 billion years ago has been called the Hadean. The Earth and the sun were both in "proto" states. The sun would have become the yellow sphere we see today roughly five hundred million years earlier, and the proto-Earth would have just been a core of molten magma busily cooling in the vacuum of space.

While the newly found diamonds may not have solved anything, they have at least given geologists who speculate about the early origins of the Earth something to argue about. Those skeptical of the claims of the Australian team point out that if the facts show as they seem to that the magmas were not the crucial element in the crystallization, it would instead point to evidence of an early Earth that was far hotter than geologists once believed.

The zircon diamonds certainly have not solved any mystery for geologists yet but they hope that further study will lead to more information about the early history of our planet. Whether or not the diamonds in Australia and elsewhere wield important geological cues they will likely continue to be a girls best friend for many centuries to come. They will also continue to be something of an oddity as they are the only known gem composed of a single atom type - carbon.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6959224.stm

http://www.gemsutra.com/diamonds.html