New Mineral Discovered In Deep-Earth Diamond (scientificamerican.com) 19
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Scientific American: A diamond that formed deep in the earth's mantle contains a mineral never seen before in nature. The discovery is a rare glimpse into the deep mantle and may help reveal new information about the structure of the planet at depths of more than 660 kilometers. This, in turn, can help geologists better understand how the mantle controls the earth's plate tectonics.
The mineral, calcium silicate perovskite, only forms under the incredibly high pressures that occur deep in the earth. The newly identified sample likely formed between 660 and 900 km below the planet's surface, says mineralogist Oliver Tschauner of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Though the mineral had previously been synthesized in the laboratory using 20 gigapascals of pressure (almost 200,000 times atmospheric pressure), it had immediately reverted to a different form when it was removed from that artificial high-pressure environment. So researchers had assumed it would be impossible to retrieve naturally occurring calcium silicate perovskite from the mantle. "The chances, we thought, of finding it were so low that we never really actively looked for it," Tschauner says.
So it was a surprise when he and his colleagues, analyzing imperfections in a diamond from Orapa, Botswana, found three minuscule specks of calcium silicate perovskite. Calcium silicate is found in other forms, including wollastonite in the crust and breyite in the middle and lower regions of the mantle. But this version had a telltale cubic crystal structure that marked it as different from those versions of the mineral. Tschauner and his colleagues named the new mineral "davemaoite," after geologist Ho-Kwang "Dave" Mao, who carried out some of the pioneering experiments in using diamonds as presses to experimentally generate mantlelike pressures on the earth's surface. They announced the discovery on Thursday in Science.
The mineral, calcium silicate perovskite, only forms under the incredibly high pressures that occur deep in the earth. The newly identified sample likely formed between 660 and 900 km below the planet's surface, says mineralogist Oliver Tschauner of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Though the mineral had previously been synthesized in the laboratory using 20 gigapascals of pressure (almost 200,000 times atmospheric pressure), it had immediately reverted to a different form when it was removed from that artificial high-pressure environment. So researchers had assumed it would be impossible to retrieve naturally occurring calcium silicate perovskite from the mantle. "The chances, we thought, of finding it were so low that we never really actively looked for it," Tschauner says.
So it was a surprise when he and his colleagues, analyzing imperfections in a diamond from Orapa, Botswana, found three minuscule specks of calcium silicate perovskite. Calcium silicate is found in other forms, including wollastonite in the crust and breyite in the middle and lower regions of the mantle. But this version had a telltale cubic crystal structure that marked it as different from those versions of the mineral. Tschauner and his colleagues named the new mineral "davemaoite," after geologist Ho-Kwang "Dave" Mao, who carried out some of the pioneering experiments in using diamonds as presses to experimentally generate mantlelike pressures on the earth's surface. They announced the discovery on Thursday in Science.
Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:4, Funny)
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I don't think so.
Kryptonite is "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine" as per "Superman Returns".
Re: Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:2)
Re: Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:4, Insightful)
Why is there no krypton in there? I know it's a noble gas, but it can still form some compounds. Even if not covalently bonded maybe could be intercalated into a crystal?
I'm not a comics/Superman enthusiast, but does the planet krypton have anything to do with the element krypton?
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I'm not a comics/Superman enthusiast, but does the planet krypton have anything to do with the element krypton?
No, other than Jerry Siegel or Joe Shuster liked the sound of it and decided to name Superman's home world after it. I believe it means "hidden one" so perhaps it is appropriate considering Clark Kent's secret.
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John Carter of Mars had a city named "Helium" and he gained super-strength because of the lesser gravity of Mars compared to his home planet (Earth). It is possible that Krypton was named after that.
Krypton also had a "twin world" named Xenon and a city named Argo City, although those were named much later, so it doesn't really tell you anything about the origin of the name Krypton.
Re: Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:2)
What does XeF6 have to do with it?
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Yes. Yes it does. OP here. This supporting reference document [ign.com] might help.
Re: Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:2)
Sorry, maybe I'm not understanding. I'm wondering if the element krypton, a noble gas, is involved in any way with with planet Krypton or with kryptonite. I understand by your reference that kryptonite physically affects kryptonians, I'm still not seeing the Kr (elemental gas) connection...
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> Kryptonite is "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine" as per "Superman Returns".
Which is similar, but not identical, to Jadarite [wikipedia.org] if anyone is wondering.
Davemaoite (Score:4, Insightful)
Davemaoite, named after a famed scientist Dave Mao! cf. TFA.
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How it might have gone down:
Random international scientist: "Hi, I'm Peter. And you are?"
Mao: "Ho-Kwang. Nice to meet you!"
Random international scientist: "..."
Mao: "Ehh, just call me Dave."
Calcium silicate perovskite (Score:2)
teenager (Score:2)
as a kid, i built one of dave mao's presses. it's deceptively simple for what it does.
it's basically a stack of belleville washers leveraging a pair of tongs.
you can create different pressures depending on the way you stack the washers, which are essentially springs.
i didn't have the cash for the diamonds, but it worked. if i kept it, i could probably buy diamonds for it.