Knowing what makes the diamonds reveal different hues might help excavate in places where rare diamonds are likely to be found.
The Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia closed in 2020, but not before contributing more than 90 percent of allfound in the world so far. Most diamond deposits in the world can be dated back to more than 2.5 billion years ago, but those in Argyle are relatively younger.
From the research so far, we know that the Argyle deposits sat at the juncture of two ancient continents. And around 1,800 million years ago, the northern and western continents collided, turning the diamonds in the deposits pink. What was not clear so far was how these diamonds made their way to the surface.
While this would not make much of a difference to us today, for geologists, it completely shifts the timescale and coincides with another major geologic event occurring in the area. Argyle is located in the region where Kimberley and the rest of northern Australia smashed many years ago and left a scar that could not heal.
Olierook and his colleagues now believe that the pink diamonds were brought closer to the surface by the breakup of the first supercontinent, Nuna. "While the continent that would become Australia didn’t break up, the area where Argyle is situated was stretched, including along the scar, which created gaps in the Earth’s crust for magma to shoot up through to the surface, bringing with it pink diamonds," said Olierook in a press release.
The researchers are of the view that diamond formation during the break up of continents might be prevalent but under-recognized. "As long as these three ingredients are present - deep carbon, continental collision, and then stretching - then we think it will be possible to find the ‘next Argyle,’" Oliebrook added.Argyle is the world’s largest source of natural diamonds, yet one of only a few economic deposits hosted in a Paleoproterozoic orogen.
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