Diamonds on Mercury: Planetary Scientists Reveal the Possibility of Finding 16 Quadrillion Tons of the Gems in 2025

Kevin Cannon, a planetary scientist, reported earlier this month at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Woodlands, Texas, that billions of years of meteorite effects may have flash-baked much of the surface of mercury into diamonds or the glittery gemstones.

As specified in a ScienceNews report, "a treasure trove of diamonds may be sown" into the cratered crust of planet Mercury.

Cannon's computer simulations have predicted that such effects might have transformed about a-thirds of the small planet's crust into a diamond stockpile many times that of this planet's.

Essentially, diamonds are forged under immense pressure and temperatures. On Earth, the gemstones crystallize deep underground, at least 150 kilometers below, then ride to the surface during volcanic eruptions. Nonetheless, studies of meteorites have suggested that diamonds can also form during impact.

Carbon Converted Into Diamond

According to Cannon, from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, when such impacts occur, they are developing extremely high pressures and temperatures that can convert carbon into diamond.

Cannon turned to the planet closest to the Sun with impact-born diamonds in mind. Surveys of the surface and experiments of the planet with molten rocks have suggested that the planet's crust may keep fragments of an old shell of graphite, a mineral coming from carbon.

He said, what they think happened is that when planet Mercury initially formed, it had a magma ocean and that graphite crystallized out of that magma.

The planetary scientist continued saying then, "the bombardment." The surface of Mercury today is heavily cratered, evidence of an impact-filled history. According to Cannon's hypothesis, a large portion of the purported graphite crust would have been battered and converted into a diamond.

16 Quadrillion Tons of Diamonds

Curious how pervasive this particular diamond forging has been, Cannon utilized computers to simulate more than four billion years of impacts on a graphite crust.

Findings have revealed that if Mercury had possessed a skin of graphite, about 300 meters thick, the battering would have produced about 16 quadrillion tons of diamonds, approximately 16 times the estimated reserves of Earth, a related Forbes report said.

There is no reason to doubt that diamonds could be yielded this way, explained Simone Marchi, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who was not part of the study.

Nonetheless, how many might have survived is another story, said Marchi. Some of the gemstones would plausibly have been destroyed by later effects.

An Opportunity for Diamonds on Mercury in 2025

In the same way, Cannon has agreed that subsequent effects would obliterate some diamonds. However, the losses would have been so limited, he added, as the ultimate melting point of the diamond goes beyond 4,000 degrees Celsius.

Future simulations will integrate remelting from effects; he continued explaining, to refine the potential size of the present-day diamond reserves of Mercury.

A similar Press News Agency report said that an opportunity to search for diamonds on Mercury "may come in 2025," when the BebiColombo mission approaches the planet. Cannon elaborated that diamonds reflect a unique signature of infrared light, which could be detected.

The recent report about diamonds in Mercury is shown on the American News's YouTube video below:

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