Richard Siemens/University of Alberta JUc29 diamond: incident light reveals irregular shapes and hexagonal pitsRichard Siemens/University of Alberta
Diamond sample JUc29, extracted from 21 de Abril River in the municipality of Juína, Mato Grosso State, near the border with Rondônia State, indicates that a volume of water equal to an ocean may actually lie deep beneath the Earth, in keeping with predictions (Nature, March 13, 2014). Applying three different techniques (X-ray diffraction and Raman and infrared spectroscopy), researchers from Canada and the United States have estimated that this ringwoodite – the olivine mineral trapped inside the diamond – contains about 1.4% water by weight. The diamond, which measures 3 millimeters in length and weighs 0.09 grams, was discovered in 2008. Similar diamonds are formed in the so-called transition zone, at depths between 410 and 660 kilometers, and rise to the surface through the eruption of volcanic rock. Based on this and other studies, a conservative estimate suggests that 1% of the weight of the transition zone may be composed of water, which could rise to the layer between the crust and outer core of the Earth, called the mantle. The water could travel through fissures to reach the surface and form visible oceans. This is the first physical evidence that water may be stored deep inside our planet.
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