Back in 2007, scientists find zircons in Jack Hill, Australia which contained tiny stones in their cracks. While initially these stones were hailed as billions of years old diamonds, fresh research shows that they are simply stones from a polishing grit.
These zircons from Jack Hill carry immense significance because after the 2007 study, they were considered the oldest known diamonds. The authors of the original 2007 study estimated them to be as much as 4.3 billion years old.
Sadly, a fresh discovery dashes all these findings by revealing that when the sample rocks were being cleaned for testing purposes, pieces of the cleaning paste rubbed and fell into its tiny crevices. It is no wonder, then, that the original study revealed these so-called diamonds to be only a little wider than human hair.
The error in the findings was realized only recently when scientists at University of California used a powerful emission electron microscope to analyze the ‘diamonds.’ The analysis revealed that the tiny diamonds in zircons actually featured sharp-edged shapes similar to synthetic diamonds, rather than the rounded edges of original diamonds.
Authors of the original 2007 study have agreed with the findings, regretting the error. However, co-author of the study Thorsten Geisler-Wierwille still insists that there is a possibility that the core of these zircons contain diamonds. But others related to the field have stated that this seems very unlikely, as UCR research geophysicist Harry Green says, ‘If you’re a betting person, I’ll make you a bet that they won’t find it. There have been an enormous amount of (Jack Hills) zircons analyzed in a bunch of different ways, and no one has ever found diamonds.’
Courtesy: Daily Mail
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