[Rockhounds] Diamond hauled from deep inside Earth holds never-before-seen mineral

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Within a diamond hauled from deep beneath Earth's surface, scientists have
discovered the first example of a never-before-seen mineral.

Named davemaoite after prominent geophysicist Ho-kwang (Dave) Mao, the
mineral is the first example of a high-pressure *calcium*
<https://www.livescience.com/29070-calcium.html> silicate perovskite
(CaSiO3) found on *Earth* <https://www.livescience.com/earth.html>. Another
form of CaSiO3, known as wollastonite, is commonly found across the globe,
but davemaoite has a crystalline structure that forms only under high
pressure and high temperatures in Earth's mantle, the mainly solid layer of
Earth trapped between the outer core and the crust.

Davemaoite has long been expected to be an abundant and geochemically
important mineral in Earth's mantle. But scientists have never found any
direct evidence of its existence because it breaks down into other minerals
when it moves toward the surface and pressure decreases. However, analysis
of a diamond from Botswana, which formed in the mantle around 410 miles
(660 kilometers) below Earth's surface, has revealed a sample of intact
davemaoite trapped inside. As a result, the International Mineralogical
Association has now confirmed davemaoite as a new mineral.

https://www.livescience.com/new-mantle-mineral-found-in-diamond