The Enigmatic Journey of Natural Diamonds: From Depths to Dazzle

Understanding the journey of natural diamonds, from their ancient formation deep within the Earth’s mantle to their sparkling presence in engagement rings, can make choosing the perfect stone feel even more meaningful.

Navigate this guide:

• Introduction
• 7 Tips for Buying a Diamond Engagement Ring and Understanding Diamond Origin 
• Chapter 1: The Earth’s Canvas: Natural Diamond Formation
• Chapter 2: Debunking Myths: Diamonds and Coal 
• Chapter 3: The Rarity and Value of Natural Diamonds
• Colored Varieties: Natural Diamond Formation
• Diamonds from Space
• Conclusion
• 10 FAQs

Introduction

Dive deep into the natural formation of diamonds, unraveling their billion-year journey from Earth’s mantle to magnificent gemstones.

It’s hard to imagine history being different and any other gemstone in existence earning more adoration and respect from humans than diamond. You can take all of the clever marketing campaigns – even the world-altering tagline, ‘Diamonds are forever’, or Monroe’s Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – out of the equation and, even then, the inexhaustible significance of this stone is clear.

Human beings have been drawn to diamonds since they were first spotted in riverbeds thousands of years ago. They were transported along the Silk Road, traded for high sums and other precious resources, and regarded around the world as the most valuable gemstone.

Their story stretches across human history but, even so, that represents only a fraction of the time they have spent on this earth. Some of the most fascinating aspects of diamond took place billions of years before their initial discovery.

Before we dive deeper into the specifics, here are some practical tips to help guide your decision-making process:

7 Tips for Buying a Diamond Engagement Ring and Understanding Diamond Origin 

When purchasing a diamond engagement ring, it’s crucial to comprehend the origin of the diamond, as this impacts both its value and characteristics.

• Tip 1: Natural vs. Lab-Grown Diamonds: Know the Difference Natural diamonds are formed over billions of years deep within the Earth’s mantle, not from coal but from carbon under high pressure and temperature. Lab-grown diamonds are created in controlled environments using advanced technological methods like HPHT and CVD, mimicking natural formation processes. 
• Tip 2: The Myth of Coal-Derived Diamonds: Dispel the myth that diamonds are made from coal. Although both are forms of carbon, their formation processes are distinct. Understand that diamonds found near coal mines are coincidental and not a result of the coal itself. 
• Tip 3: Verify the Diamond’s Source: When selecting a diamond, ask for documentation or certification that clearly states whether the diamond is natural or lab-grown. This knowledge helps in making an informed decision based on personal preferences for natural history or sustainable practices. [
• Tip 4: Assessing Diamond Quality: The 4 Cs Evaluate diamonds based on the 4 Cs: Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat weight. A diamond’s formation process influences these characteristics, especially its clarity and color. 
• Tip 5: Scrutinizing for Synthetic Indicators: Be aware that some lab-grown diamonds may have certain tell-tale signs, such as specific inclusion patterns or fluorescence under UV light. Lab-created diamonds can replicate the appearance and chemical properties of natural diamonds, making careful examination necessary. 
• Tip 6: Understanding Geological Significance: Appreciate the geological journey of natural diamonds, as each has a unique history dating back billions of years. The rarity and historical significance of natural diamonds can add to their emotional and monetary value. 
• Tip 7: Ethical Considerations and Sustainability: Consider the ethical implications and environmental impact of your diamond choice. Natural diamond mining has various ecological and social impacts, while lab-grown diamonds offer a more sustainable and often ethical alternative.

Now that you’ve got these practical tips, use Jeweler AI below to find the perfect engagement ring that suits your style and budget:

Chapter 1: The Earth’s Canvas: Natural Diamond Formation

Diamonds form thanks to a combination of extreme pressure, extreme heat, and a very, very long stretch of time…

The Mantle’s Secret: Birth of a Diamond.

None of us can imagine what it’s really like in the earth’s upper mantle, which begins around one hundred miles beneath your feet. There, the combination of residual heat, heat from the earth’s core, and the heat of decaying, radioactive elements combine to maintain temperatures between 2000°F and almost 7000°F.

Not only that, but, so far beneath the earth’s surface, the pressure is immense. The weight of the world (or, at least, 100 miles’ worth of earth and rock and water) puts the mantle under continuous pressure and creates the ultimate conditions for creating the world’s most beautiful gem.

At first, it sounds almost impossible for something so perfect and so admired to have been formed under some of the most ferocious circumstances imaginable, but this is exactly where every natural, earth-created diamond we have ever known (or will ever know) came from – and it’s yet another reason why we all find them so fascinating.

A Billion-Year Process: Nature’s Artistry in Diamond Creation.

The process is slow – unimaginably slow – and spanned between one and four billion years.

This is another big part of the romance of diamonds. While the ring you propose with will have been crafted in the last few weeks or months, the diamond has been in existence and growing throughout the history of the planet. This means that your engagement ring has been in the making for billions of years.

It’s also another reason why lab grown diamonds haven’t captured the hearts and imaginations of shoppers in the same way that natural diamonds have always managed to do. The dizzying romance of an engagement ring isn’t just a result of its beauty – although that is an important part of its impact, of course. It’s also about the romance of sharing something that began its life before virtually anything else around us existed.

Every diamond brought to the earth’s surface is ancient, and it has undergone a remarkably long and improbable journey in order to get there…

The Slow Ascendence to the Earth’s Upper Crust

Eruptions caused by underground volcanoes created the movement necessary to shift diamonds gradually closer to the earth’s crust.

Again, this process was slow – and incredibly unlikely. Many of these diamonds are now found in ‘alluvial’ deposits, which means that they can be sifted from loose silt on riverbeds, in streams and, sometimes, from the ocean floor. Namibian diamonds, for instance, are found in rich deposits off the shoreline of the Namib desert, and mining efforts are underway to recover those loose diamonds without disrupting the ocean’s ecosystem.

For the most part, however, rough diamonds are found in kimberlite pipes – large, funnel-shaped deposits of igneous rock found pretty close to the earth’s surface, created by the power of those underground volcanic eruptions. The kimberlite deposits can be mined over the course of many years, and the rough diamond is extracted from the rock.

The moment each diamond is mined from kimberlite represents the first moment it is exposed to sunlight, and the first time it will ever be held in human hands.

Chapter 2: Debunking Myths: Diamonds and Coal 

Diamonds do not come from coal. They do, however, share an unbreakable link to coal.

Separating Fact from Fiction: The Coal and Diamond Connection

It’s one of those things people say – usually when they’re trying to make you feel better about a workload the size of Everest, or a looming deadline: think of it this way, if coal is put under enough pressure, it turns into a diamond. Unfortunately, you’re the coal in this situation – and, if you’re listening to any gemologist, scientist, or natural history enthusiast out there, you’re never going to morph into a diamond.

Sorry about that.

But, even if diamonds and coal do not represent two stages of the same journey, they are intrinsically linked. We’re not saying you’re going to want to superglue a lump of coal to a gold band, get down on one knee, and tell your girlfriend that you’ve pretty much bought her an engagement ring, but there might be one or two gemologists, scientists, or natural history buffs who get a slight kick out of it (at best).

Carbon’s Versatile Forms: Understanding the Differences

Every natural diamond starts out at a carbon deposit buried deep underground. Subject to the high temperatures and intensive pressures of the mantle, each carbon atom is forced closer and closer to the next until, eventually, the atomic structure changes. A rigid, tightly-packed structure arranged ‘tetrahedrally’ (meaning that each atom is attached to four others).

The result is a stone harder and tougher than any other natural substance. Rough diamonds often form in a shape known as an octahedron (an eight-sided shape, like two pyramids placed base to base) but they can also form as cubes, ten-sided ‘dodecahedrons’, or even 42-sided shapes. They have a cloudy, dull, and sometimes oily appearance, and may appear totally white (colorless) or any number of colors. Yellow or brown are the most common – clear is the most popular – while pink and red are the rarest.

Chapter 3: The Rarity and Value of Natural Diamonds

A diamond is a lot more than the sum of its parts. Looking beyond its beauty and sparkle – even beyond the romantic power these stones hold – there is still so much to feel in awe of.

Diamonds are the product of nature’s toughest forces. Heat, pressure, and unconceivable, dizzying stretches of time combine to create one of the most mesmerizing and impressive substances in nature and knowing a little more about the life your diamond had before it found its way onto your finger only contributes to the honour of wearing it.

Geological Wonders: The Unique Journey of Each Diamond

There are more than thirty countries that have been found to feature natural diamond deposits, although the majority of gem quality diamonds are mined from Botswana, South Africa, Russia and Canada.

These countries are all home to bountiful kimberlite pipes and are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the world’s gem quality diamonds.

As we mentioned above, some countries also boast rich alluvial deposits. Along with Namibia’s off-shore diamonds, Angola and Sierra Leone both offer high potential for these alluvial diamonds, which are thought to have been carried away from kimberlite sources by major rivers, such as the Orange River, which connects South Africa with Namibia.

The Unlikely Appearance of Rough Diamond

If you went looking for diamonds in an area rich in alluvial deposits, there’s every chance you’d wind up disregarding the first few rough stones you found, simply because a rough diamond has a pretty unassuming appearance (at least, in comparison with the perfectly faceted and sparkling stones available to purchase).

Rough diamond often resembles sea glass – although, on close inspection, its unique structure makes it easily recognizable to gemologists – with a relatively dull surface appearance. They can be smooth, cubic or, ideally, resemble two pyramids placed base-to-base. However much or little potential they have, they look pretty commonplace amongst other stones, sand, and silt.

Fortunately, these diamonds were enough to captivate those who were totally unaware of how they could look – and to change the course of history. The first cuts were relatively primitive compared with the sparkling shapes we enjoy today, and it wasn’t until the 1920s when the Round Brilliant was honed into the magnificent cut held in such high regard by shoppers and jewelers alike.

Colored Varieties: Natural Diamond Formation

Naturally colored diamonds contain trace elements of other substances, rather than being formed from pure carbon. The type of substance found within any diamond will determine its color, and the amount will determine its vividity and strength.

The Science Behind the Beauty

Most diamonds contain traces of other elements. One of the most common is nitrogen, which creates color ranging from a faint (almost imperceptible) yellow, to a richer brown, and can be found in many clear diamonds – particularly those of an L color grade or lower.

Fancy color diamonds, however, can be any color. The presence of boron, for instance, can create diamonds with colors ranging from faint, sky blue to rich and intense indigo and cerulean. Since so much depends on the combinations and concentrations of trace elements, fancy color diamonds are prized highly for their unique shades and their rarity.

This is why there are many different terms (or grades) used to describe fancy color diamonds. The GIA, for instance, grades their diamonds according to the following scale: Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid, Fancy Dark and Fancy Deep.

Diamonds from Space

Extraterrestrial diamonds do exist, but it is far more common for diamonds to be recovered from kimberlite pipes and alluvial deposits – or from the aftermath of asteroid collisions.

The Mystery of Extra-Terrestrial Diamonds

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that space is a rich source of diamond. Some planets are thought to be made of diamonds, while, famously, known planets like Uranus are thought to experience diamond ‘rainstorms’ as a result of their very, very different conditions.

Some meteorites have been found to contain small traces of diamonds, although they can represent far richer sources. Millions and millions of years ago, for instance, an asteroid collided with northern Siberia. The result was a crater that, at its widest, measures about 5 miles, and contains billions and billions of diamonds.

These diamonds did not come from space, but it is thought that they formed near-instantaneously as a result of the crash.

The trouble? Most of these diamonds are not of interest to the jewelry world. They are small (only fractions of carats in weight), and contain far too many flaws for them to appeal to shoppers.

Siberia remains a major source of gem-quality diamonds, but these diamonds are recovered from kimberlite pipes – the remains of ancient volcanic eruptions underground – and not from ancient asteroid craters.  

Interestingly, early 2022 saw the record-breaking sale of a rare extraterrestrial black diamond named The Enigma. Weighing a staggering 555.55 carats (uncut – the equivalent of more than 111 grams, or 3.9 ounces), the diamond sold for $4.3 million. It is thought that the diamond arrived on earth via a meteor or asteroid. It contains traces of osbornite, which is only ever found in meteorites.

Conclusion

There is a reason we propose with diamonds, and not with graphite pencils or lumps of coal. Diamonds are beautiful, unlikely products of the natural world – ancient relics that only exist because of the combination of nature’s most extreme forces, and pure carbon. They have been a prized find around the world for thousands of years, and it’s not hard to see why.

It’s pretty exciting when you start to dig into the subject, to know where your diamond started out – what that carbon could have become, if conditions had been different – and what processes and reactions made your piece of carbon as valuable and beautiful as it is.

10 FAQs

• Q: Are diamonds really made from coal? 
• A: No, diamonds are not made from coal. They are formed from carbon deep within the Earth’s mantle under extreme pressure and temperature, independently of coal formation. 
• Q: How can I distinguish between a natural and a lab-grown diamond? 
• A: Natural and lab-grown diamonds can be challenging to distinguish without expert analysis. Certifications from reputable gemological laboratories can confirm a diamond’s origin. 
• Q: What should I look for when buying a diamond engagement ring? 
• A: Consider the 4 Cs (Cut, Color, Clarity, Carat), the diamond’s origin (natural or lab-grown), ethical sourcing, and any certifications ensuring quality and authenticity. 
• Q: Do lab-grown diamonds have the same quality as natural diamonds? 
• A: Yes, lab-grown diamonds can have comparable quality to natural diamonds in terms of the 4 Cs. They are chemically and physically similar but differ in their formation process and history. 
• Q: How are colored diamonds formed? 
• A: Colored diamonds are formed when trace elements interact with carbon atoms during diamond formation. For example, nitrogen can create yellow diamonds, while boron can lead to blue diamonds. 
• Q: Is it important to know where a diamond comes from? 
• A: Yes, knowing a diamond’s origin helps in understanding its value, ensuring ethical sourcing, and making an informed choice between natural and lab-grown options. 
• Q: How long does it take for a diamond to form naturally? 
• A: Natural diamonds take billions of years to form deep within the Earth’s mantle under high pressure and temperature. 
• Q: Can diamonds be ethically sourced? 
• A: Yes, there are ethical sourcing practices in place for both natural and lab-grown diamonds. Look for diamonds certified by organizations that ensure ethical and environmentally responsible practices. 
• Q: Are there environmental benefits to choosing lab-grown diamonds? 
• A: Lab-grown diamonds generally have a smaller environmental footprint compared to natural diamond mining, making them a more sustainable choice. 
• Q: Do diamonds retain their value over time? 
• A: Natural diamonds generally retain value better than lab-grown diamonds. However, the value also depends on the diamond’s quality, rarity, and market demand.

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