Carbonado compared to carbon‑12, relative to typical diamonds). Carbonado exhibits strong luminescence (photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence) induced by nitrogen and by vacancies existing in the crystal lattice. Luminescence halos are present around radioactive inclusions, and it is suggested that the radiation damage occurred after formation of the carbonados, an observation perhaps pertinent to the radiation hypothesis listed below. The origin of carbonado is controversial. Some proposed hypotheses are as follows: None of these hypotheses for carbonado formation had come into wide acceptance in the scientific literature by 2008. Supporters of an extraterrestrial origin of carbonados propose that their material source was a
Carbonado, Washington settled during an economic boom in the region. The boom was brought on by raw material demands in nearby growing towns such as Seattle and Tacoma. Starting with the town of Burnett and moving on through Wilkeson, Carbonado, Montezuma, Fairfax, and finally Manley Moore, these settlements sprawled up the valley to the very boundary of Mount Rainier National Park. Most of these towns were company towns, meaning that they specialized in the harvest of raw materials owned the plot of land that the town was situated on and that the resources were harvested from. Often—and such was the case of