Diamonds may originate on ocean floor

A professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto at Mississauga says he has evidence that diamonds begin to form on the ocean floor.
Professor Daniel Schulze believes that diamond formation begins when the mantle — the interior layer between the earth’s core and its crust — forces lava up onto the ocean’s floor. The process begins when the lava solidifies into basalt, which interacts with sea water and changes its oxygen composition. Geological processes then thrust the altered basalt under the earth’s continental plates where heat and pressure turn the basalt into eclogite — red and green rocks that may contain diamonds if carbon is present.
Schulze based his controversial theory on gem diamonds mined in Guaniamo, Venezuela. His study was published in the May 1 issue of Nature magazine.
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