Q&A: Travelling back in time with diamonds

Diamonds are Maya Kopylova’s best friend, but not for the reasons you might think. Kopylova is a geologist specializing in kimberlites and diamonds. Sifting through core samples that can stretch for kilometres, her lab is discovering how and where diamonds form, and providing a better understanding of the deep earth.

How are diamonds useful to geologists?

Diamonds are time capsules — mantle minerals can become trapped in them, like insects in amber, allowing us to see what the conditions on Earth might have been three billion years ago. We also can’t see deep inside the Earth. But kimberlite rocks, which form at depths of over 150 km, are pushed up by volcanic eruptions and sometimes carry diamonds with them. They allow us to understand what the conditions are far beneath the surface of our planet.

Nowadays, kimberlite pipes — deposits which are left behind from ancient magma eruptions — are the most important source of diamonds, and our research can help companies map their location. A kimberlite pipe can have a value of hundreds of millions dollars, and be mined for decades.

What are some of the challenges associated with kimberlite research?

Access to samples. Most geologists can simply collect the samples they need or purchase them. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to drill for kimberlite so we ask companies for samples. Therefore, most of the time, my students aren’t going into a mine, although sometimes you do venture into the field. When this happens you are looking at core samples, which are cylindrical sections of rock. You could be describing up to five kilometres worth of rocks.

What kind of projects are you working on right now?

We're involved with several diamond exploration projects. One of them is a field in the Hall Peninsula in Canada. Another one is in Quebec. We're also studying nitrogen free diamonds. Many large famous diamonds, such as the largest diamond ever mined, the Cullinan, are nitrogen free. The lack of nitrogen means the diamonds are ver clear, very big, and very valuable. We are trying to understand their origin.

How did you become interested in geology?

A friend of my father gave me a mineral collection when I was six. I memorized all the names of the mineral specimens and decided I wanted to be a geologist. Geology is discipline which emphasizes hands-on work in the field and the laboratory. It allows you to travel and I enjoy that.