From the depth comes clarity

 Award: Semifinalist Prize, Images of Research Competition 2019
from depth comes clarity
Submitted by:Nicole Meyer
Faculty/Department:Earth & Atmospheric Sciences 
Image creation:In the lab, down a microscope

For many, a diamond is a symbol of love and commitment . For me it’s no different, except the love is for science and the commitment is to my PhD. The brilliance of a diamond evokes a sense of clarity and admiration, for these invaluable pieces of carbon, although small, can give us vast amounts of information about the solid Earth. This diamond has a story of ancient sediment deposit returned via subduction into the mantle and reused to create an eclogitic diamond. The micron-sized sulphide inclusion has been safely encapsulated for a very long time. But how long? I don’t quite know, millions or billions of years perhaps. You will have to wait until I break it out.