There are many amazing facts that boggle the mind when you talk about the evolution of diamonds. One of the most incredible is a how Mother Nature can crystallize simple carbon into one of the world most treasured jewels. Imagine that little piece of coal being transformed over time into the brilliant gem we all love to admire.

It has long been debated exactly how old the earth really is but it’s generally accepted that this beautiful planet of ours has been around for roughly 4.6 billion years. That is an amazing amount of time. To put that into perspective; fish appeared on the earth 500 million years ago, plant life on land appeared 475 million years ago, mammals 200 million years ago, and dinosaurs died out over 65 million years ago. It’s generally accepted that modern man appeared 200 thousand years ago.

That’s a whole lot of time, but if you really want to time travel you really don’t need to look very far.Just take a quick look down at your ring finger and touch that beautiful diamond. The diamond you are touching is somewhere between 1 and 3 billion years old. Just think that beautiful diamond predates most basic life forms on this planet and developed during an incredible time while our planet was still evolving. The process that created your beautiful diamond is one amazing journey.

Most diamonds are formed at extremely high temperature and tremendous pressure. This process begins roughly at 100 miles deep below the surface of the earth in the layer known as the mantle. Beginning as simple carbon minerals, Mother Nature transforms and grows this carbon over 1 to 3 billion years. Diamonds are brought to the Earth’s surface through volcanic activity and magma. This magma cools over time into igneous rock known as kimberlite and Lamproites. Later this material is mined and processed for diamonds.

So the next time you are admiring that beautiful diamond of yours, just remember how incredible it is to look at, posses, and touch something that is 1 to 3 billion years old.

Dave Padgett

Owner/Partner D&R House of Diamonds

Graduate Diamonds GIA