Spring 2008
Natural-Color Purple Diamonds from Siberia
Sergey V. Titkov, James E. Shigley, Christopher M. Breeding, Rimma M. Mineeva, Nikolay G. Zudin, and Aleksandr M. Sergeev
Twelve natural-color purple diamond crystals from Siberia, and seven round brilliants that were faceted from some of these crystals, were studied using spectroscopic methods to better understand their color and its causes. Aspects of their color and the various structural defects in these purple diamonds are due to their post-growth plastic deformation in the earth. All the samples exhibited prominent parallel planar lamellae along which the purple color was concentrated.
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