Russian mining giant Alrosa has found “an unusual diamond with another diamond moving freely inside” in Yakutia, the company said in a press release, calling the “Matryoshka” diamond is “the first such diamond in the history of global diamond mining”.
The outer diamond weighs 0.62 carats (0.124 grams) and has maximum dimensions of 4.8 x 4.9 x 2.8 mm. The inner diamond has a tabular shape and dimensions of 1.9×2.1×0.6 mm. According to Alrosa specialists who studied the diamond, the internal diamond was created first, while the outer diamond was formed during the subsequent stages of growth.
Oleg Kovalchuk, Deputy Director for innovations at ALROSA’s Research and Development Geological Enterprise, explained: “The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses. According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the Earth’s surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it. Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another on the principle of matryoshka nesting doll”.
Kovalchuk added that the diamond is “really a unique creation of nature, especially since nature does not like emptiness. Usually, some minerals are replaced by others without cavity formation”.
