Russia reveals 'unique diamonds' created by gases and lightning from volcanic eruption
Sparkling discovery of precious gems in solidified lava of Tolbachik flare-up.
The ministry expressed excitement about the quantity of diamonds found in the lava. Picture: Perm State University
Geologists are celebrating the discovery of a new type of diamond, says the Russian Ministry of Science. The find was in the lava of 3,682 metre Tolbachik volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula in the country's far east, and experts predict they will be commercially exploited.
'The solidified lava of the Tolbachik eruption (2012-2013) carries within it a new and never-before-seen type of diamond,' stated the ministry.
'They are named Tolbachik diamonds. According to the Russian geologists, these unique diamonds are not formed in the magmatic melt, but are created by volcanic gases under pressure and as a result of crystallisation under the influence of electrical discharges of lightning.'
Geoolgists say that to the uneducated eye the gems look almost identical to synthetic diamonds.
'But these are true diamonds that differ from any other known types of precious gems' from their geological and mineralogical characteristics, from combustion temperatures to composition of trace. There was a patent registered in 1964 in France to produce diamonds from gas by using extra powerful electric discharge. It is quite possible that Russian geologists found a nature-made - and real - alternative to French synthetic diamonds.'
Tolbachik volcano eruption, and Tolbachik diamonds. Pictures: Lusika33, Perm State University
The ministry expressed excitement about the quantity of diamonds found in the lava.
'From a small sample of solidified lava there were several hundred diamonds recovered - that's a lot!
'This is the number of diamonds that can only be compared with abnormally high enrichment of diamond lava rocks on the field of Dachin in India (77 diamonds in a 1-kilogram sample) and an unusual magmatic rock in Canada (1,500 diamonds in 28-kilogram sample).'
The diamonds are 250 to 700 microns in size. At least some of the lava yields are diamondiferous, in other words, capable of yielding diamonds for mining.
In a report by scientists it was stated that the diamonds 'were identified using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.
The crystals, as a rule, represent a combination of cubes and octahedrons, with rare rhombododecahedrons'. They concluded: 'Such numerous (hundreds) diamond grains in lavas of the active volcano were found for the first time in the world.'
The Tolbachik complex comprises two volcanoes - Plosky (flat) Tolbachik (3,085 m) and Ostry (sharp) Tolbachik (3,682 m).
Tolbachik volcano eruption. Pictures: Lusika33
They are respectively a flat-topped shield volcano and a peaked stratovolcano. The volcano's best known eruption was called the Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption (GTFE) in 1975. An eruption on 27 November 2012 started from two fissures of a strombolian type.
Buildings some 4 kilometres distant were hit by the spectacular lava flows which went as far as 20 km.
The basaltic lavas with diamonds in the pores are similar in chemical composition to the lavas of the Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, but there are crucial differences.
'The basalts of the new eruption contain slightly more SiO2 and higher Fe relative to those of GTFE.'
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