[meteorite-list] Black diamonds= supernova origin?

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:20:36 -0500
Message-ID: <574aq25ed3jooubpcs4rtatt20a126pljt_at_4ax.com>

The story seems very fishy to me. I find it hard to believe that even diamonds
could survive hitting the Earth's atmosphere/surface at interstellar speeds.

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/070108_spacey_diamonds.html

ET Gems: Black Diamonds Come from Outer Space

By Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 08 January 2007
05:42 pm ET
 
 

If you?re looking for a space-age way to propose marriage, a black-diamond ring
might be the way to go.

Long baffled by their origin, scientists now have evidence that these
charcoal-colored gems [image] formed in outer space.

Stephen Haggerty and Jozsef Garai, both of Florida International University,
analyzed the hydrogen in black diamond samples using infrared-detection
instruments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and found that the quantity
indicated that the mineral formed in a supernova explosion.

Also called carbonado diamonds, meaning ?burned? or ?carbonized? in Portuguese,
black diamonds defy mineral-making rules and are neverfound in the world?s
mining fields where the clear and classic variety typically resides.

Conventional diamonds form hundreds of miles beneath the Earth?s surface, where
high pressure and heat turn carbon into diamonds

Volcanic blasts send the gems in a short amount of time to the surface where
they can be mined. "This process preserves the unique crystal structure that
makes diamonds the hardest natural material known," said Sonia Esperanca of the
National Science Foundation. She was not involved in the research.

Since 1900, about 600 tons of conventional diamonds have been traded. Black
diamonds reside in certain geologic formations in Brazil and the Central African
Republic.

Haggerty has suggested, in the past, that black diamonds might have rained down
on Earth inside meteorites billions of years ago. Their relative distribution on
Earth could be explained by the timing of the formation of the continents, he
said.

The new research was published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

 
Received on Wed 10 Jan 2007 11:20:36 AM PST