International scientists discover the oldest diamond ever found

(rbc.ru) - A group of international scientists has discovered the oldest diamond ever found, according to the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The tiny 0.3mm stone was found in the rocks of the "Udachnaya" kimberlite pipe, the largest diamond deposit in Russia.
"The diamond we discovered is probably the oldest ever studied, with the age of the syngenetic (formed at the same time - Ed.) sulfide inclusion in this diamond estimated to be approximately 3.6 billion years," said academician Nikolay Pokhilenko, the scientific director of the institute, in a statement on the organization's website.
The diamond's age was determined using isotopic dating, which involves calculating the fraction of radioactive decay of elements. The crystal grew from a silicate or sulfide melt and was trapped by a growing olivine crystal from refractory ultrabasic rocks, which form a thickening lithospheric mantle. Pokhilenko added that the minimum depths of the formation of the diamonds studied in the colder lithosphere had shifted to levels around 140 km, corresponding to pressures of around 37,000 atmospheres at temperatures of around 900°C, while the maximum formation values had shifted towards an increase: 120,000 atmospheres at a depth of 300 km.
The "Udachnaya" pipe is located 20 km from the Arctic Circle. The pipe was discovered by Soviet geologist Vladimir Shchukin in June 1955 during exploration work by the Amakinskaya geological prospecting expedition. Later, a settlement (now a city) named Udachny was built for industrial diamond mining. The pipe has yielded several notable diamonds, including the "60 Years of Yakut ASSR" weighing 173.7 carats and the "Yakutsk-350" weighing 126.3 carats in 1982, and the "Alexander Pushkin" weighing 320.65 carats in 2013.