“Diamond Factory” in the Earth’s Core

Study: Earth’s Core May Contain Huge “Diamond Factory”

With the refinement of technologies and research methodologies, scientists are beginning to unravel certain enigmas related to the core of our planet. Thus, according to a new study, the intense heat of the Earth’s core may have the ideal conditions for the existence of a huge “carbon diamond factory”.

The Earth’s core is full of mysteries due to its small size, but it could contain materials at temperatures above 3,000°C.

Diamonds are the earth’s best friends

The study by researchers at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration specifically focuses on the relationship between Earth’s metallic core and magma in the mantle. This bonding can lead to the carbon being in a diamond state.

The stable form of carbon under the pressure temperature conditions of the Earth’s central mantle boundary is diamond.

The inner core is made of solid iron and estimates indicate that it must be as hot as the surface of the Sun. The outer core is liquid iron and all around it is a huge layer of molten rock.

The temperature at the boundary between the silicate mantle and the metallic core reaches around 3,800 degrees Celsius, which is high enough for most minerals to lose H₂O trapped in their atomic-scale structures.

As noted, at the expected mantle boundary pressures of the Earth’s core, hydrogen bonding with liquid iron metal appears to reduce the solubility of other light elements in the core. As a result, the solubility of carbon, which probably exists in the Earth’s core, decreases locally where hydrogen enters the mantle core (by dehydration).

Thus, carbon that would escape from the liquid outer core would become diamond when it entered the mantle. The new discovery of a mechanism for transferring carbon from the core to the mantle will shed light on understanding the carbon cycle deep within the Earth.

“Diamond Factory” in the Earth’s Core

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