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September 2007
TIGeR Research Success:

Four billion year old microdiamond inclusions have recently been discovered in zircon crystals from Jack Hills during collaborative investigations involving researchers from Curtin University of Technology's TIGeR Research Group in the Department of Applied Geology and the Institute for Mineralogy at the Westfalisce Wilhelms-University in Munster, Germany.

These findings include the oldest known diamonds found in terrestrial rocks and introduce a new dimension to the debate on the origin of the ancient zircons at Jack Hills and the evolution of the early Earth.

These research findings are discussed in a paper published on the 23 August 2007 entitled "Hadean diamonds in zircon from Jack Hills, Western Australia" [Nature, vol. 448, pages 917-920]

Links:

Curtin's Campus News

nature.com : abstract

nature.com : supplimental information

abc.net.au : article (September 2007)

abc.net.au : article (August 2007)

aussmc.org : Ancient WA diamonds

msnbc.msn.com : article

geolsoc.org.uk : article

news.bbc.co.uk : article

newscientist.com : oldest diamonds give clue to earths early crust

spectroscopynow.com : article

Diamond inclusion in zircon.