The Incredible Formation Process of Coloured Diamonds

The beauty and rarity of diamonds has made them into the enduring symbol of love that they are today. They are considered worldwide as the most romantic gift on offer and are especially favoured for engagement rings. Even rarer are stunning coloured diamonds, which are naturally tinted in various hues via a remarkable process. Have you ever considered the journey that these precious stones have been on to make it into jewellery stores worldwide? First, we will take a look at how diamonds are formed.

How Are Diamonds Formed?

Diamonds are a product of processes deep within the Earth’s mantle – the layer between the Earth’s crust and its intensely heated core. In this environment, extreme pressure exists - equivalent of the weight of four-thousand grown men. This serves to crush carbon atoms together, altering their molecular composition to create a lattice-like structure. When this extreme pressure is combined with the intense 1500° centigrade heat from the Earth’s core, diamonds are born. Lying one-hundred miles below the Earth’s crust, diamonds are propelled to the surface via a volcanic rock called kimberlite. Kimberlite hosts diamonds and transports them outwards in pipes of molten lava, which erupt in small volcanoes when they hit the Earth’s surface. The magma builds up in mounds, which cool and harden with diamonds encased within. Here, they can be found in clusters by miners. With such an incredibly long and complex formation process, it’s no wonder that diamonds are so revered. But this leaves the question, how do coloured diamonds gain their unique hues?

A Guide to Coloured Diamonds

Whilst coloured diamonds go through the same extreme formation process as white diamonds, they encounter additional elements along the way that result in variations in their appearance. These stones are incredibly rare and beautiful; if you want to see for yourself, the Diamond Brokers Queensland offers diamond rings in Brisbane which will take your breath away. Each colour has its own unique story, which we will take a look at here:

Yellow – Yellow diamonds are famed for their appearances on the red carpet, being the favoured jewel of celebs such as J-Lo and Natalie Portman. As with many others on this list, these rare stones gain their distinctive colour as a result of specific light refractions combined with added trace elements in the diamond’s composition. Here, traces of nitrogen assemble in a way that absorbs blue light and reflects yellow tones, giving them their yellow-orange hue.

Purple – It is thought that traces of hydrogen may result in purple hued diamonds. Combined with their individual crystal lattice distortion, these stones can gain a violet or dark purple tinge.

Pink and Red – Again, lattice distortion is the root cause of red and pink tints within diamonds. In this case, the structural formation of the stone acts to absorb green rays of light, leading to a red colour.

Green – Conversely, green coloured diamonds gain their colour by absorbing radiation which exists within the soil just below the Earth’s crust.

Blue – In blue diamonds, boron is the root cause of the colour. This element bonds with the carbon molecules resulting in a structure which absorbs green, red and yellow light, leaving the blue to shine through.

Are Coloured Diamonds Expensive?

Due to their rarity, naturally coloured diamonds are often on the pricier end of the scale. However, there are also ways to create these rare colours synthetically in the laboratory, which means that buyers can own these beautiful stones at a more affordable price.

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