The formation and preservation of cratons—the oldest parts of the continents, comprising
over 60 per cent of the continental landmass—remains an enduring problem. Key to craton …

Initially, it may seem extremely daunting to be sitting in front of several thousand carats of
small diamonds, knowing that the likelihood of finding a diamond with a meaningful …

Earth's carbon, derived from planetesimals in the 1 AU region during accretion of the Solar
System, still retains similarities to carbon found in meteorites (Marty et al. 2013) even after …

Most diamonds are metasomatic minerals, which means they grew from fluids or melts that
moved through solid mantle rocks and chemically interacted with them. The involvement of …

The composition of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) is broadly related to the
tectonothermal age of the overlying crust, suggesting a secular change in SCLM-forming …

Cratons are Earth's ancient continental land masses that remain stable for billions of years.
The mantle roots of cratons are renowned as being long-lived, stable features of Earth's …

Giant magma-related ore systems are prime targets for modern mineral exploration, yet it is
unclear what controls their formation. The magmas originate in Earth's convecting mantle. To …

The origin of cratonic diamonds is reviewed on the basis of nearly 5000 analyses of silicate,
oxide and sulphide inclusions in diamonds. Compositional fields are defined for common …

Unlike in the ocean basins where the shallow mantle eventually contributes to the
destruction of the overlying crust, the shallow mantle beneath continents serves as a stiff …

The mechanisms of growth and destruction of continental lithosphere have been long
debated. We define and test a unifying plate tectonic driving mechanism that explains the …