Question for the Geologists among us...

[Bitter Irony]

Is it possible for a planet to have diamonds but not a ready supply of coal or oil?

Mind, I'm not asking if it'slikely--just is it possible at all? Say, frequent geological upheaval moves most sources of carbon deep into the earth, where it gets pulverized into diamonds before it can biodegrade into coal?

Any input would be appreciated!

~Bitter Irony

From even the greatest of horrors, Irony is seldom absent.
~H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House

And here I begin my foray into the dark and deadly waters of e-zine editing...
http://mirrordancefantasy.blogspot.com

[Rob Santa]

Sure, why not? One of the suppositions of the composition of a gas giant core is that it could be a diamond the size of a planet. Remember diamonds are formed far away from the crust layer of the earth, which is only a few miles thick. Diamonds form inside the mantle, from superheated and pressurized carbon that gets thrust to the surface through volcanic activity. The coal and oil are surface products. Diamonds should come from any planet with a mobile atmosphere or core.

Bearing in mind I am NOT an expert on geology.


Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO ofRicasso Press

[tchernabyelo]

'Say, frequent geological upheaval moves most sources of carbon deep into the earth, where it gets pulverized into diamonds before it can biodegrade into coal?'

Depends on the source of the carbon. Some diamonds are formed from 'organic' carbon, some are not. See Wikipedia entry on 'diamonds' and it will tell you all about their formation. But basically; it is perfectly feasible for diamonds to exist without coal.

Brian Dolton
http://tchernabyelo.livejournal.com

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[crystalwizard]

you're making the rules. In your universe, do diamonds have to be made from carbon?

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[Rob Santa]

They do, actually. Other elements under the same heat and pressure do not turn into diamonds.


Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO ofRicasso Press

[crystalwizard]

Rob Santa said...
They do, actually. Other elements under the same heat and pressure do not turn into diamonds.

That's in THIS universe, Rob. But if you're making the rules, you can design a substance that is exactly like diamond but made from something else and in some other way.

[Rob Santa]

I understand. In my universe, though, it wouldn't be called a diamond, because it isn't one. Diamonds must be made from carbon, but an equally hard substance of similar structure could exist in a mythical universe.


Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO ofRicasso Press

[Anaconda]

Is it possible for a planet to have diamonds but not a ready supply of coal or oil?</o>
</o>
Zoom off at 99.99 percent of light speed, and then return to Earth a thousand of our years later</o>
I am sure that it will fit your criteria.</o>


Alec Anaconda, author of Slaves of Janice, After Janice,Extreme Vengeance and Extreme Vengeance 2.

[Frank]

Diamonds don't biodegrade into oil and coal. Diamonds, once formed, can only be broken down by melting. The only way to naturally do that is deep in the planet or melting them along with the rest of a planet in the outer layers of an expanding star or melting in a massive impact.

Oil and coal are called fossil fuels because they are the remains of living things. To have oil or coal you need a planet covered in plants and animals first, then millions of years later you can have fossil fuels. No amount of diamonds present on a planet will ever give you oil or coal. Only life will eventually result in fossil fuel.

There may be planets in the universe made mostly of carbon, rather than of silicon like earth. In such cases diamonds might be abundant both on and under the surface, but it depends greatly on exactly how these hypothetical planets form, which would be quite different from how earth formed. Planetary scientists who have speculated about carbon planets all agree that such planets can only form along with carbon-rich stars which for the most part are present only in the galactic core, a very different place from our stellar neighborhood. Type G2 stars like our sun form in dust clouds that do not contain enough carbon to make diamond planets possible in this part of the galaxy, except perhaps around pulsars where the formation of that pulsar interfered with a rocky planet's formation, burning off the silicon-oxygen compounds of a closely orbiting terrestrial planet.

[AlecAnaconda]

Diamonds would be cheap if they are plentiful.
Without oil and coal, power could be a problem.

However, once crushed to a powder, diamonds could be burnt for energy.