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Topics: News, World News, Science
Niamh Shackleton
After years of mystery, scientists have discovered why diamonds are sent to the Earth's surface.
Diamonds are formed way down in the upper mantle of the Earth's crust and, without them shooting to the surface in what's known as kimberlite eruptions, we wouldn't be able to access them.
The eruption sees a cocktail of rock, water, carbon dioxide and many key kimberlite materials - including diamonds - coming to the surface in what's been dubbed as a 'fountain of diamonds' that can travel up to 83 miles per hour.
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It's long been wondered what causes this, and now scientists from the University of Southampton, UK, have finally found an answer.
From their research, they've come to the conclusion that the eruptions are a result of a major geological event where tectonic plates pull apart.
One example given is when supercontinent Gondwana split into two around 180 million years ago to create what's now known as South America and Africa.
The movement then sparked a series of diamond eruptions 25 million years later.
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According to scientists, when tectonic plates move, rock from the upper mantle and lower crust to mix and flow against each other - sparking such eruptions.
From analyzing data, researchers believe that these 'fountains of diamonds' occur every 22 to 30 million years.
With their findings in mind, Thomas Gernon, a professor of Earth and climate science at the University of Southampton, said that they hope it will help with the discovery of new and unexplored diamond deposits.
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"The diamonds have been sat at the base of the continents for hundreds of millions or even billions of years," he told LiveScience.
"There must be some stimulus that just drives them suddenly, because these eruptions themselves are really powerful, really explosive."
The data may also help explain why there are other types of volcanic eruptions that sometimes occur long after supercontinent breakup in regions that should be largely stable.
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He went on to say: "It’s a fundamental and highly organized physical process, so it’s likely not just kimberlites responding to it, but it could be a whole array of Earth system processes that are responding to this as well."
According to the University's website, the team 'used statistical analysis, including machine learning, to forensically examine the link between continental breakup and kimberlite volcanism'.
Dr Thea Hincks, Senior Research Fellow, further added: "Using geospatial analysis, we found that kimberlite eruptions tend to gradually migrate from the continental edges to the interiors over time at rates that are consistent across the continents."