A diamond recently unearthed in a diamond mine in Botswana is just such a stone. It’s riddled with flaws containing traces of ringwoodite, ferropericlase, enstatite, and other minerals that suggest the diamond formed 660 kilometers (410 miles) below Earth’s surface. They suggest that the environment in which they formed – a divide between the upper and lower mantle called the 660-kilometer discontinuity discontinuity (or, more simply, the transition zone) – is rich in water. The presence of water can influence the explosiveness of a volcanic eruption and play a role in seismic activity.Read Long Article
