University aids research into Earth's crust

EDINBURGH University scientists have been providing data for an experiment which uses diamonds to discover how the Earth's ocean crust renews itself continuously over billions of years.

A team of researchers led by the University of Bristol have proved a theory which states that the oceanic crust is being continuously drawn downwards deep into the earth, and replaced by new material formed by magma forced upwards through ocean ridges.

Experiments carried out at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Bayreuth in Germany, and the Advanced Light Source in the US, proved that minerals contained within diamonds found in the Juina area of Brazil could only have been trapped through this process.

Diamonds form at great depths and pressures and therefore can provide clues as to what is happening at the Earth's deep interior, down to several hundred kilometres – beyond the depths that can be accessed by drilling.