Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Why Tolbachik diamonds cannot be natural. / Litasov, Konstantin D.; Kagi, Hiroyuki; Bekker, Tatyana B. et al.
In: American Mineralogist, Vol. 106, No. 1, 27.01.2021, p. 44-53.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Why Tolbachik diamonds cannot be natural
AU - Litasov, Konstantin D.
AU - Kagi, Hiroyuki
AU - Bekker, Tatyana B.
AU - Makino, Yoshiki
AU - Hirata, Takafumi
AU - Brazhkin, Vadim V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/27
Y1 - 2021/1/27
N2 - Taking into account recent publications, we provide additional comprehensive evidence that type Ib cuboctahedral diamonds and some other microcrystalline diamonds from Kamchatka volcanic rocks and alluvial placers cannot be natural and undoubtedly represent synthetic materials, which appear in the natural rocks by anthropogenic contamination. The major arguments provided in favor of the natural origin of those diamonds can be easily disproved. They include the coexistence of diamond and deltalumite from Koryaksky volcano; coexistence with super-reduced corundum and moissanite, Mn-Ni silicide inclusions, F-Cl enrichment and F/Cl ratios, and carbon and nitrogen isotopes in Tolbachik diamonds, as well as microtwinning, Mn-Ni silicides, and other inclusions in microcrystalline diamond aggregates from other Kamchatka placers. We emphasize the importance of careful comparison of unusual minerals found in nature, which include type Ib cuboctahedral diamonds and super-reduced phase assemblages resembling industrial slags, with synthetic analogs. The cavitation model proposed for the origin of Tolbachik diamonds is also unreliable since cavitation has only been shown to cause the formation of nanosized diamonds only.
AB - Taking into account recent publications, we provide additional comprehensive evidence that type Ib cuboctahedral diamonds and some other microcrystalline diamonds from Kamchatka volcanic rocks and alluvial placers cannot be natural and undoubtedly represent synthetic materials, which appear in the natural rocks by anthropogenic contamination. The major arguments provided in favor of the natural origin of those diamonds can be easily disproved. They include the coexistence of diamond and deltalumite from Koryaksky volcano; coexistence with super-reduced corundum and moissanite, Mn-Ni silicide inclusions, F-Cl enrichment and F/Cl ratios, and carbon and nitrogen isotopes in Tolbachik diamonds, as well as microtwinning, Mn-Ni silicides, and other inclusions in microcrystalline diamond aggregates from other Kamchatka placers. We emphasize the importance of careful comparison of unusual minerals found in nature, which include type Ib cuboctahedral diamonds and super-reduced phase assemblages resembling industrial slags, with synthetic analogs. The cavitation model proposed for the origin of Tolbachik diamonds is also unreliable since cavitation has only been shown to cause the formation of nanosized diamonds only.
KW - cavitation
KW - Diamond
KW - HPHT synthesis
KW - Kamchatka
KW - metal catalyst
KW - silicide
KW - super-reduced phases
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099362648&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2138/am-2020-7562
DO - 10.2138/am-2020-7562
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099362648
VL - 106
SP - 44
EP - 53
JO - American Mineralogist
JF - American Mineralogist
SN - 0003-004X
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 27478699