The Magnetic Properties Of Aggregate Polycrystalline Diamond: Implications For Carbonado Petrogenesis (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781289281953)

Carbonados are a type of diamond, which are made up of many aggregrates of small crystalline diamonds or microdiamonds. The term "carbonado" comes from the Portuguese word carbonated. They are only found in sedimentary deposits in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Bahia Province of Brazil. They were once the source of the world's supply of industrial diamonds. Their origin is uncertain but several mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed. This theories are: (1) extraterrestrial, that is they formed from the dust cloud of original solar nebulae; (2) produced by the high temperatures and pressures of the Earth's mantle; (3) or as the result of an extra-terrestrial impact into a carbon rich layer of sediment. Our study was done to further the understanding of their origin. We measured the magnetic properties on some twenty samples from the CAR. An earlier study was done on whole samples of carbonados and the "common" or kimberlitic diamond. Our work differed in that we started at the surface and subsequently removed the surface layers (by days of acid immersion) into the interior; measuring the magnetic properties at each interval. This procedure permits us to monitor the distribution of magnetic substances within the samples. Our results showed that the magnetic carriers are distributed on the surface including the open pores and that the carbonado interior is essentially non-magnetic. This result suggests that the initial formation environment was deficient in magnetic particles. Such a situation could indicate that their formation was the result of an extra-terrestrial body impacting carbon-rich sediment. Obviously, more work will be required on isotopic and chemical analyses before a more detailed ori-in can be determined.

Author: Nasa Technical Reports Server (Ntrs)
ISBN-10: 1289281955
ISBN-13: 9781289281953
Publisher: Bibliogov
Language: English
Published: 08/06/2013
Pages: 30
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.16lbs
Size: 9.69h x 7.44w x 0.06d