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Science 1 March 1996:
Vol. 271. no. 5253, pp. 1260 - 1263
DOI: 10.1126/science.271.5253.1260
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Reports

Radiation-Induced Diamond Formation in Uranium-Rich Carbonaceous Materials

Tyrone L. Daulton * and Minoru Ozima

Nanometer-sized diamonds were identified by transmission electron microscopy in a uranium-rich, coal-like carbonaceous assemblage of Precambrian age. This observation, together with estimates of formation efficiencies, supports the hypothesis that diamond can form in carbonaceous material irradiated by the radioactive decay products of uranium. The results also suggest that the formation of carbonados cannot be sufficiently explained by a radiation mechanism alone.

T. L. Daulton, Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
M. Ozima, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA, and Department of Earth and Planetary Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113, Japan.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Present address: Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
INTRAGRAIN VARIATION IN {delta}13C AND NITROGEN CONCENTRATION ASSOCIATED WITH TEXTURAL HETEROGENEITIES OF CARBONADO.
R. Yokochi, D. Ohnenstetter, and Y. Sano (2008)
Can Mineral 46, 1283-1296
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Infrared and Raman spectroscopic observations of Central African carbonado and implications for its origin.
H. Kagi and S. Fukura (2008)
European Journal of Mineralogy 20, 387-393
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Generation history of carbonado inferred from photoluminescence spectra, cathodoluminescence imaging, and carbon-isotopic composition.
H. Kagi, S. Sato, T. Akagi, and H. Kanda (2007)
American Mineralogist 92, 217-224
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Strange Diamonds: The Mysterious Origins of Carbonado and Framesite.
P. J. Heaney, E. P. Vicenzi, and S. De (2005)
Elements 1, 85-89
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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