As part of their formation process they will occasionally encapsulate teeny bits of the chemical environment around them in what are called inclusions.
Previous work has shown that ice-VII can be synthesized in the lab, but the new study revealed that small amounts of the material can also form naturally here on Earth, thanks to the peculiar properties of diamonds.ĭiamonds can form very deep in the Earth’s mantle, as much as 400 miles beneath the crust. The pressures ice-VII requires to form can be found on our planet, but they exist only deep in the mantle where the temperature is too warm for this form of ice to be stable. But they did not think it could naturally occur on Earth. Scientists believe that ice-VII may be found in great abundance in the solar system, perhaps in the interior of ice moons like Enceladus and Europa, or as part of the ocean floor of Titan.
