Diamonds May Not be Rare: Here's Why

Diamonds are rare - A common thought now being challenged by a recent Johns Hopkins University study. However, the study's researchers say that this does not constitute cheaper engagement rings in the near future, according to EurekaAlert.

 "Diamond formation in the deep Earth-the very deep Earth-may be a more common process than we thought," according to Dimitri A. Sverjensky, a geochemist at the Johns Hopkins University who led the research which led to the conclusion that diamonds may not be so rare anymore.

In Sverjensky's study, which appeared in the online science journal, Nature Communications, a "new quantitative theory" is introduced wherein researchers explain a new process of how diamonds are formed.

Below is a few points the scientists have made in their new Diamond study:

•  Generally, the amount of diamonds near the Earth's surface is still dependent upon rare volcanic magma eruptions. These eruptions are reportedly the only way that the diamonds are spewed out from the Earth's core where they are formed.
•  The diamonds Sverjensky is referring to in his studies shown in Nature Communications journal isn't visible to the naked eye. In order to see these diamonds, one has to have a microscope.

Sverjensky, along with graduate student Fang Huang, utilized a chemical model and they found out it doesn't take much for diamonds to be created. Diamonds can now be formed through a simple and natural chemical reaction. The chemical model has not yet been tested using actual materials, nevertheless it shows that with increased acidity during water and rock interactions, diamonds are created.

According to Futurity, the common notion of how diamonds are formed has been that the gem needs to undergo complex processes involving fluid movement; and methane oxidation or reducing carbon dioxide.

The new diamond research now proves that a massive amount of underground water could produce diamonds since it becomes more acidic as the water travels from one rock to another. This pH or acidity level falls naturally to the required level for a diamond to be formed, according to Sverjensky.

He added that the new diamond finding is only one of many studies in the last 25 years that has helped scientists how diamonds are really prevalent instead of the common notion that it is rare.

"The more people look, the more they're finding diamonds in different rock types now," Sverjensky said. "I think everybody would agree there's more and more environments of diamond formation being discovered."

Even if the diamond study do not make diamonds cheaper in the market, it will at least help understand deep Earth's fluid movements, and ultimately its carbon cycle by which all life depends on.