Scientists have found a new mineral inside a diamond that formed deep inside the Earth's mantle.
The new mineral named davemaoite as a tribute to renowned physicist Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao, is the first example of a high-pressure calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) found on Earth.
Although previous theories suggested that there could be "an abundant and geochemically important mineral" inside the Earth's mantle, no proof existed to corroborate the said theories.
Mineralogist Oliver Tschauner of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a team from Botswana found the sample of davemaoite trapped inside a diamond. The diamond was formed in the mantle around 410 miles (660 kilometres) below Earth's surface.
The International Mineralogical Association has already confirmed that davemaoite is indeed a new mineral. The team announced the discovery on Thursday and published their findings in the journal Science.
"Davemaoite is believed to play an important geochemical role in Earth's mantle. Scientists theorise that the mineral may also contain other trace elements, including uranium and thorium, which release heat via radioactive decay. Therefore, davemaoite may help to generate a substantial amount of heat in the mantle", Tschauner, lead author of the study, said.
The scientists collected the sample of the new mineral from the diamond via a technique called synchrotron X-ray diffraction. They revealed that the sample of davemaoite inside the diamond was just a few micrometres (millionths of a metre) in size.
The researchers are hopeful that these new minerals can provide an insight into the composition of Earth's mantle.
Surprisingly, they also found a huge amount of potassium in the davemaoite sample which "hints at a global 'conveyer belt' that circulates elements between the crust and deep mantle".