First diamond inside a diamond | MATRYOSHKA DIAMOND | RUSSIA

First diamond inside a diamond - The diamonds are estimated to be approximately 800 million years old. MATRYOSHKA DIAMOND. In October 2019, reports emerged of an unprecedented diamond that had formed within another diamond – dubbed the "Matryoshka diamond" after traditional Russian nesting dolls. The larger gem is 0.62 carats with dimensions of 4.8 x 4.9 x 2.8 millimetres (0.18 x 0.19 x 0.11 inches) – smaller than a grain of rice; the inner diamond has an estimated weight of 0.02 carats and dimensions of 1.9 x 2.1 x 0.6 millimetres (0.07 x 0.08 x 0.02 inches). The unique double-gem was unearthed in the Nyurba open-pit mine in the Sakha Republic, aka Yakutia, in eastern Russia, by the ALROSA diamond mining company. The diamonds are estimated to be approximately 800 million years old. It¬ yet known for certain how this first-of-its-kind gem formed, but it&agreed that something must have happened that interrupted the normal process of crystallization. When the disruptive event occurred, perhaps another type of less-robust mineral such as olivine formed around the first diamond, before the stone then found itself back in prime diamond-making conditions where the second larger diamond began to form. Somehow over time, perhaps through water erosion, the olivine layer disintegrated and leached out, leaving a cavity and the original diamond kernel. Alternatively, some kind of fluid may have become trapped inside during the crystallization process, which later evaporated or...