Antarctica Has Diamonds? Scientists Find Evidence of Riches, Mining Forbidden
Antarctica may have diamonds, scientists from Australian National University revealed Tuesday. The researchers were on an expedition and found a stone called kimberlite, which is known for containing diamonds.
Antarctica's vast untapped resources have shown evidence of precious metals like gold, silver and other jewels but never diamonds until now. The kimberlite stones were discovered around Mount Meredith in the Prince Charles Mountains in East Antarctica, according to the journal Nature Communications on Dec. 17.
"It would be very surprising if there weren't diamonds in these kimberlites," Greg Yaxley, who led the expedition, told Live Science. However, he said that only 1 to 2 percent of kimberlite stones actually hold valuable grades of diamond- it's "much, much less than 1 carat of diamond per ton of kimberlite."
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It's doubtful diamond mines exist on the continent or could even be established in the sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic continent. Even if they could, 50 countries including the U.S. and China have agreed to the Madrid Protocol, which bars them from mining there and preserves the region to study animal life and environmental issues.
"This discovery will not lead to a diamond-mining industry in the southern continent, and this is how it should be," Yaxley said. The Madrid protocol will end in 2041, though, and at that time it could be extended.
Despite the kimberlites not leading to vast diamond mines or riches, they do have valuable scientific information about volcanic and geological activity.
"Kimberlites in general inform us about conditions in the Earth's interior," Yaxley, who is a geologist, explained. "Their geochemistry holds clues about the nature of the source rocks at these extreme depths."
The researchers believe the three kimberlite samples found could be 120 million years old and provide clues to what Earth used to look like when more continents formed a larger landmass.
