Researchers have identified buried kimberlite, the rocky home of diamonds, by testing the DNA of microbes in the surface soil.
These ‘biological fingerprints’ can reveal what minerals are buried tens of metres below the earth’s surface without having to drill. The researchers believe it is the first use of modern DNA sequencing of microbial communities in the search for buried minerals.
The research published this week in Nature Communications Earth and Environment represents a new tool for mineral exploration, where a full toolbox could save prospectors time and a lot of money, says co-author Bianca Iulianella Phillips, a doctoral candidate at UBC’s department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences (EOAS).
The technique adds to the relatively limited number of tools that help find buried ore, including initial scans of the ground and analysis of elements in the overlying rock.
