One of my other faves from the recent Michael Farmer auction, this 3.4 kg Canyon Diablo meteorite has a 5mm diamond inclusion sticking out of the face that could not be cut by the saw. Garvie wrote to him: “Our research shows that the Canyon Diablo diamond is something even rarer and possibly harder – a material we have called diaphite.”

The Canyon Diablo meteorites have been known and used by pre-historic Native Americans, and collected and studied by the scientific community since the 19th century. Who knew, there was crystal healing placebos within. 🙂

From the Feb 2022 paper on Canyon Diablo’s diaphite: “Diamond is predicted to have a very high tensile strength, but it undergoes brittle fracture due to defects and the cleavage planes in its crystalline lattice. However, the graphitic layers within the diaphite structures will absorb the energy of a propagating crack resulting in fracture toughened ceramic behavior.” This and other strange light absorption and thermoelectric effects are described there.

From the Christies’ description: “Canyon Diablo contains small diamonds formed from embedded graphite nodules by tremendously energetic collisions on its parent body. Prized by museums and private collectors everywhere, Canyon Diablo (“Canyon of the Devil”) meteorites are the quintessential American meteorite. Like most meteorites, this specimen originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Approximately 49,000 years ago, it was part of an errant asteroid that plowed into the Arizona desert with the force of more than 100 atomic bombs. Fragments were ejected more than 11 miles away from the point of impact and the main mass vaporized, creating the most famous and best-preserved meteorite crater in the world—the renowned Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona. The crater is nearly a mile across and 600 feet deep.”

150 mm x 100 mm x 70 mm (6 x 4 x 23⁄4 in.), 3.4 kg.

4 responses to “Diamond Diablo 💎”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    closeup: The "diamond" inclusion keeps it from resting flat on the table:

    Reply
  2. subarcticmike Avatar
    subarcticmike

    South America ‘carbonado’ is also space diamond, with placer miners recovering individual "black diamonds" for centuries.
    Iron meteorites thus likely, but may not have been recovered or reported.

    Reply
  3. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    New research on the diamond structure in this meteorite from PNAS: "For the study, scientists from the UK, US, Hungary, Italy and France used detailed state-of-the-art crystallographic and spectroscopic examinations of the mineral lonsdaleite from the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite first found in 1891 in the Arizona desert.

    Named after the pioneering British crystallographer Professor Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, the first female professor at UCL, lonsdaleite was previously thought to consist of pure hexagonal diamond, distinguishing it from the classic cubic diamond. However, the team found that it is in fact comprised of nanostructured diamond and graphene-like intergrowths (where two minerals in a crystal grow together) called diaphites.

    "It should be possible to design materials that are both ultra-hard and also ductile, as well as have adjustable electronic properties from a conductor to an insulator.

    "The discovery has therefore opened the door to new carbon materials with exciting mechanical and electronic properties that may result in new applications ranging from abrasives and electronics to nanomedicine and laser technology."

    Reply
  4. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    and now popularized in Gizmodo: “This study proves categorically that lonsdaleite exists in nature” … The mineral lonsdaleite—a type of diamond with a hexagonal crystal structure—can be found in meteorites that were likely created when an asteroid collided with a dwarf planet billions of years ago. The mineral has also been created in lab settings, but otherwise is vanishingly rare on Earth. The mineral differs from usual diamonds in its crystal structure, which is hexagonal (ordinary diamonds have a cubic crystal structure.) Separate research earlier this year indicated that lonsdaleite’s structure makes it harder than other diamonds.”

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *