“For jewelers and buyers, the size, color, and clarity of a diamond all matter, and inclusions — those black specks that annoy the jeweler — for us, they’re a gift,” said Oliver Tschauner in a press release from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and co-leader of the study.
Regarding davemaoite’s unlikely ascent, he commented to Nature, “It’s the strength of the diamond that keeps the inclusions at high pressure.”
A specialized X-ray technique, known as a synchrotron, revealed the new mineral
Tschauner and collaborators, including geochemist Shichun Huang from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), acquired the diamond before employing a specialized X-ray known as a synchrotron. This enabled them to analyze its internal structure more thoroughly.
They discovered a novel crystalline substance that they termed “davemaoite”– a name chosen to honor experimental geophysicist Ho-Kwang “Dave” Mao, who created many of the methods Tschauner and his associates employ today.
Davemaoite has since been approved as a brand-new natural mineral by the Commission of New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association.
Davemaoite can be blasted onto Earth’s surface by meteorites
The discovery of davemaoite by Tschauner demonstrates just one of the two ways that highly pressured minerals are discovered in nature: from the interior of meteorites or between 410 and 560 miles beneath the Earth’s surface.
Better yet, Tschauder has already made strides in the former path (interior of meteorites) when he discovered the mineral “bridgmanite” back in 2014.