Diamond

Mohs hardness of 10

    Thirteen diamonds collected from the Prairie Creek Lamproite in Southwest Arkansas are shown.  Note the variety of colors each stone displays as well as the adamantine luster which is common to all.  White, colorless, yellow, brown, and black are common colors found in the Arkansas deposits.  Total carat weight of the stones is ~1.6 carats.  The fancy canary (yellow) colored stones can be quite striking and beautiful.  An example displaying a deep canary hue is shown at the ten o'clock position.  A colorless stone is shown at the nine o'clock position.  The diamonds were photographed resting on a blue hued rock (lamproite) which is deeply weathered.  The diamonds were freed from the matrix as the lamproite decayed.

The above left image is a close-up photgraph of a yellow diamond recovered from the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  This diamond is also found in the first image at the 10:00 o'clock position. The image on the right is a close photograph of a brown diamond also recovered from the state park.  This brown diamond is found in the top image at the 11:00 o'clock position.  Note that the diamond is broken.

The diamond shown above is found at the 9:00 o'clock position in the top most image.  This particular diamod is "pure water" or flawless and has eceptional clarity and brillance in its raw crystal form.  The diamonds found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park are typically twelve-sided dodecahedrons. Six of the diamond crystal's twelve crystal faces are shown above.

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