Stephen Haggerty

Research Areas

Dr. Haggerty's research uses diamond as a proverbial window to Earth's deep interior. Diamonds are pure carbon and natural antiques (2.8 - 3.2 billion years) that form at depths greater than 200 km in selectively old, cold and stable continental cratons. Brought to the surface volcanically in explosive kimberlite pipes, these preciously sought after gems hold an enormously rich information repository on: the early primordial Earth, sources of carbon, processes of fractionation, magmatic evolutionary events; and with plume-generated volcanism triggered at the core-mantle boundary (2,900 km depth), diamonds, the host rocks to diamonds, and mineral inclusions in diamonds, provide an unprecedented sample of Earth's deep interior. His current studies are wide-ranging from field activities in Brazil, India, South Africa, and West Africa (fingerprinting "Blood Diamonds"), to the cosmos, pre-solar diamonds (greater than 4.5 billion years old), and the enigmatic origin of black and porous carbonado-diamond. He also had the mineral Haggertyite named after him.

Diamonds Made of "Stardust," UMass Geoscientist Suggests

Cold Dead Star May Be A Giant Diamond

View Dr. Haggerty's publications

Education

• PhD, London University Imperial College of Science and Technology, 1968