Giant discovery in glaciers 'Diamonds are hidden in Antarctic ice' Scientists have signed a new study suggesting that Antarctica may be hiding diamonds. It has been determined that Antarctica has an abundance of precious rocks containing diamonds. Diamonds may be hiding in Antarctica's vast ice cover.
Diamonds are formed under high temperature and pressure in the mantle layer between the lithosphere (earth's crust) and the core, at a depth of about 160 km. The precious stones brought to the surface by powerful volcanic eruptions are trapped in rocks called kimberlite.
Gregory Yaxley from the Australian National University, who was part of the research team, stated that "kimberlite rocks, whose age ranges between 10 thousand and 2.1 billion years, provide information about the internal structure of the Earth". “The geochemistry of the Kimberlite rocks offers clues about the very deep source rocks,” Yaxley said.
120 MILLION YEARS OF TRACK
The researchers analyzed geological samples from the eroded slopes of Mount Meredith, part of Prince Charles mountain in eastern Antarctica. The results determined that kimberlite rocks were also located at the South Pole for the first time.
The analyzed samples were found to date back 120 million years, when India was separating from the great landmass of Australia and Antarctica.
Stating that kimberlite rocks were found at the edges of the intercontinental Lambert crack, Yaxley said that 'the crack may have played a role in the formation of kimberlite and triggered rock formation again in the process of India's separation from Antarctica and India'.
According to the news of OurAmazingPlanet, the presence of kimberlite rocks may be the result of tectonic movements that affect the continents throughout.
GIANT DIAMOND REGION
The period that suggested kimberlite rocks were formed in Antarctica showed that the continent was located in a region where these rocks boiled during the Cretaceous period.
Once the diamond paradise of the world, the region was scattered in all directions by the division of the supercontinent Gondwana.
Yaxley stated that although there are traces of diamonds in Antarctica, kimberlite rocks contain only 1-2 percent of precious stones and it requires a long mining process to obtain these stones.
Yaxley also noted that mining is prohibited in Antarctica under the Madrid Protocol.
Source : ntvmsnbc
📩 20/12/2013 00:02
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