Gondwana: Super Deep Diamonds Reveal Ancient Supercontinent’s Secrets Hundreds of Millions of Years Ago

Gondwana is a giant landmass that existed hundreds of millions of years ago, a time when it became the natural habitat of unique flora and fauna. This ancient supercontinent comprises modern-day Africa, South America, the Middle East, India, and Australia, which are the result of Gondwana's continental break up more than 100 million years ago.

While mystery shrouded this ancient landmass since time memorial, advancement in theoretical and applied methods in the field of Geology has allowed scientists to further understand the supercontinent but not its entirety. Now, a new study led by an international team of researchers found that "super deep diamonds" may hold the secrets of Gondwana, particularly how it formed and stayed afloat in the first place.

Where is Gondwana?

(Photo : Photo by Bas van den Eijkhof on Unsplash)

Gondwana, as mentioned earlier, is located in the landmasses of today's Southern Hemisphere that includes not only South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Indian subcontinent but also Antarctica, Madagascar, and Australasia. For centuries, scientists have thought that the said supercontinent formed between 800 million and 550 million years ago.

The term "Gondwana" was named by the Austrian scientist, Eduard Suess, based on a region in central India of the same name. In Sanskrit, it is translated from "forest of the Gonds." The existence of this colossal landmass was based on evidence of rocks and fossils from different parts of the world, indicating these specimens were once together and not divided by oceans.

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Super Deep diamonds

The prevailing evidence of how Gondwana formed suggests that several plate tectonics or ancient continents collided with each other during the Late Precambrian period (1 billion to 542 million years). Described by some as the "lost world of Gondwana," this large landmass was one of the two ancient supercontinents, with the other being Pangaea formed during the Early Carboniferous period (335 million years ago).

While the exact geological processes behind the supercontinent cycle remained a mystery, the new study entitled Sublithospheric diamond ages and the supercontinent cycle published in the journal Nature on October 18 offers insight on how Gondwana formed. According to the paper's authors, subduction related to the ancient supercontinent cycle is poorly pressured by mantle samples.

Instead, the researchers used sub-lithospheric diamond crystallization records, showing the release of melts from subducting oceanic lithosphere at depths between 300 and 700 kilometers. The acquired data of the scientists indicate that super deep diamonds or diamonds that formed deep below the surface of Earth only became accessible after Gondwana started to break up 120 million years ago.

Supercontinent Cycle

In the context of the supercontinent cycle, the research team further understood that super deep diamonds supported the buoyancy and growth of the Gondwana. The team was able to assess the diamonds, which were transported to our planet's surface due to explosive volcanic eruptions 90 million years ago.

Furthermore, the examined diamonds were found in Brazil and the West African country of Guinea, where the said minerals formed between 300 and 700 kilometers below the Earth's surface. These findings support the evidence that South America and Africa were once part of the Gondwana supercontinent.