A Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta has discovered a new and curious mineral inside a diamond unearthed from a mine in South Africa.
The mineral—named goldschmidtite in honor of Victor Moritz Goldschmidt, the founder of modern geochemistry—has an unusual chemical signature for a mineral from Earth’s mantle, explained Nicole Meyer, a graduate student in the Diamond Exploration Research and Training School.
“Goldschmidtite has high concentrations of niobium, potassium and the rare earth elements lanthanum and cerium, whereas the rest of the mantle is dominated by other elements, such as magnesium and iron,” said Meyer.
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