Culture Jo, it's our new weekly format!

Jewelry is a whole story... so we're going to tell it to you. The goal: to discover the beautiful world of jewelry every week.

And since culture is like jam, we decided to spread some diamond toasts for you.

Let's start with episode #1: How are diamonds born?

The Earth's crust is less than 40 km thick; this is where rubies, sapphires, and emeralds form.

To find diamonds, you have to go much deeper: about 200 km towards the center of the Earth. Scientists measure pressure in pascals, and where diamonds form, the pressure is 5 to 6 gigapascals, which is equivalent to 80 elephants on your big toe.

All precious stones are formed from a combination of elements; the diamond is formed from only one: carbon.

A diamond is the result of crystallization that requires an enormous amount of time and energy: literally more than 1000 degrees Celsius under a pressure of 75 tons per cm².

Each carbon atom binds to four others to form a pyramid with four equal equilateral triangles as faces.

All the diamonds found on the Earth's surface were formed between 1.5 and 3.5 billion years ago, which is between 25 and 75% of the Earth's age. The oldest diamonds that could be dated predate life on Earth.

More than 25 million years ago, diamonds rose to the surface due to the force of rare and violent explosions of volcanic rock, known as kimberlite.

Under the action of erosion and weathering, kimberlite releases the crystals from their shell, the matrix. Runoff water then carries them to the beds of rivers, streams, and the sea. There, they mix with masses of sediment.

In the most seismic regions, diamonds evaporated, but in more stable ones, they survived. They remained unnoticed for millions of years before their deposits were discovered and exploited at the beginning of the 16th century, and it is in India that the story begins...

We'll tell you more in the next episode!