Diamond miners in South Africa, oil prospectors in the Gulf of Mexico, the 49ers' from California's golden era, and nickel miners in Canada have something in common other than their search for precious materials. Their bond links them literally through time and space. Recent geological studies are suggesting that at least part of Earth's supply of oil, diamonds, copper, nickel, and gold came from leftovers of our solar system's formation, brought into the terrestrial mix by asteroids, meteorites, and comets.
Current thought says that diamonds and oil share a common ancestor, carbon.
Various incarnations of Superman have demonstrated this fancifully by taking a piece of coal and crushing it into a diamond in his bare hand. Carbon dating has shown that the carbon in these precious gems is at least three billions years older than Earth's plant and animal life. One study, published last year by Stephen Haggerty, a geoscientist from the University of Massachusetts, suggests that the carbon that produced diamonds came from the original material that formed our solar system. Very massive stars don't end their lives quietly. They go out with a bang in supernova explosions that disperse their material into space.