Agadir: Discovery of diamonds in a meteorite on display at the Ibn Zohr Museum

Visitors to the Agadir University Meteorological Museum can marvel at the world of space pebbles and giant crystals. Rare and very special discoveries.

The museum is particularly interested in 120 foreign meteorites such as the Chelyabinsk and Moroccan meteorites such as Dysint, which fell directly from Mars in the Tata region of southeastern Russia, and NWA 12606. .

According to Coffee News, Digital media dedicated to the news of the Arab world, NWA 12606 is an alien planet weighing 197 grams that was spotted in 2018 about 30 km southeast of the Middle East, in the Trophilite region. It is considered one of the oldest objects in the solar system.

Its fragments are “one of the only elements that can give us a glimpse into the history of the universe.”

According to research conducted on this rock by Moroccan scientists, especially the meteorite professor and geologist Abderrahman EP and the Italians, the formation of this meteorite was four billion six hundred million years ago, or almost simultaneously with the sun and the planets.

It is classified in the family of the oldest chondrites, and especially in the subdivision of the Ureilites, the most rare rocks representing 0.6% of all waterfalls. It actually reveals a specific mineral structure, the media explains.

According to the same source, the meteorite contained diamonds engraved between various elements (millimeters in size!) Of olivine (90%), pyroxene (5%) or graphite (5%).

The formation of these gemstones stemmed from the violent impact of the meteorite crashing into the Earth and cutting through the atmosphere. Due to the extreme heat and pressure, the solid graphite in the rock turned to diamond.

This change requires a number of conditions, namely a rise in temperature above 2000 ° C, a minimum of 30 GPa (Gigapascal) of atmospheric pressure and a shock time (a few seconds). Diamond. All the components were put together so that NWA 12606 could be made even more rare and precious stone, the same source states.

For Coffee NewsThis fascinating discovery will encourage some Arab countries to consider these cultures as real cultural assets and enrichments of their heritage.