Diamond (gemstone) Diamond (gemstone) A diamond (from the "adámas", meaning "unbreakable", "proper", or "unalterable") is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to 25,000 - 30,000 B.C. The hardness of diamond and its high dispersion of light—giving the diamond its characteristic "fire"—make it useful for industrial applications and desirable as jewelry. Diamonds are such a highly traded commodity that multiple organizations have been created for grading and certifying them based on the "four Cs", which are color, cut, clarity, and carat. Other characteristics,
Black Rock Desert volcanic field Black Rock Desert volcanic field The Black Rock Desert volcanic field in Millard County, Utah, is a cluster of several volcanic features of the Great Basin such as Pavant Butte and Tabernacle Hill. The field's Ice Springs event was an explosive eruption followed by lava flows that were Utah's most recent volcanic activity (1140–1440 AD). which overlapped the older flows of Pavant Butte. The Pleistocene-Holocene field has been an active tectonic area for approximately 2.7 million years. Within the past 1.5 million years, local volcanism has produced both rhyolitic and basaltic cones from near twenty-four vents from which lava escapes