A schist in the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a geologist's best friend. For proof, look no further than a recently mined diamond that contained a mineral that had never been seen in ...

How hard is a diamond? What is the difference between granites and garnets? Minerals are the building blocks of rocks. They are inorganic, crystalline solids with a known chemistry. Examples of ...

The Cullinan mine, located on a diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe in the Gauteng province of South Africa, is the world’s richest source of rare blue diamonds and has produced more than a quarter of the ...

If you draw with a pencil, you can tell how soft the graphite inside is. Pieces of graphite break off to leave the pencil mark. But can you imagine drawing with a diamond? Diamonds and graphite are ...

Mineral inclusions discovered in diamonds prove that surface rocks can be subducted into the deep part of the Earth's mantle. The isotopic composition of the diamonds confirms that recycling of ...

Researchers discovered a mineral that shouldn't exist on Earth's surface but was found inside a diamond. The mineral, davemaoite, was found inside a diamond from an African mine. It was last dug up ...

The Crater is home to many other rocks and minerals, including jasper, sandstone, conglomerate, agate, quartz, amethyst, calcite, barite, mica, and (of course) diamonds, but the most prominent ...