But what about davemaoite?
It’s OK if you’ve never heard of it.
It’s a new discovery.
A team of geochemists found the mineral in dark inclusions inside a diamond.
UNLV said it’s “the first time that lower mantle minerals have ever been observed in nature.”
The mineral was fortuitously preserved in a diamond mined from Botswana and sold by a gem dealer in 1987.
“I think we were very surprised.
We didn’t expect this.”
The researchers analyzed the diamond’s interior structure and found the calcium silicate compound (CaSiO3-perovskite) inside.
They named it “davemaoite"for pioneering geophysicist Ho-kwang “Dave” Mao.
TheInternational Mineralogical Associationapproved the new natural mineral and added it to its list of minerals.
