Do the Ubangui diamonds originate from a giant impact?

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2

Africa, Diamonds, Magnetic Anomalies, Meteorite Collisions, Meteorite Craters, Carbon Isotopes, Chemical Analysis, Isotopic Enrichment, Meteoritic Composition

Scientific paper

Carbonado wa first recognized as a form of polycrystalline diamond as long ago as the 1840s, when it was discovered and mined as a placer mineral in Brazil. It is now known from a number of other sources, where it is colloquially known as 'carbons.' Common to all these samples is the fact that they occur in alluvial deposits far from primary diamond-bearing rocks such as kimberlite and lamporite. Several authors have suggested that carbonado might have a crustal origin. Recently, it has been proposed that a magnetic anomaly spread over 700,000 sq km of Central Africa might be interpreted as a crater formed by an impact that occurred in sedimentary rocks during Precambrian times; if authenticated this would be the largest impact feature recognized to date. Such a hypothesis makes the investigation of Ubangui diamonds and other carbonados worhtwhile. We considered isotopic systematics and other properties of a variety of intact Ubangui carbons. Because of their importance as grinding and polishing materials microcrystalline diamonds are usually crushed before marketing; the stones we obtained were not and showed a surface rind with a texture very reminiscent of a fusion crust. We have now made C isotopic measurements on five approximately centimeter-sized specimens. We have also begun to study N and its isotopes in carbonados. The results were comparable to data obtained for Brazilian carbonados. So far we have not detected any differences for N between the heavy C diamond and the rest of our samples.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Do the Ubangui diamonds originate from a giant impact? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Do the Ubangui diamonds originate from a giant impact?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Do the Ubangui diamonds originate from a giant impact? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-822210

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.