The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann

Researchers from Hebrew University's Institute of Earth Sciences have made a groundbreaking discovery that confirms decades-old predictions about Earth's deep mantle. Led by Yael Kempe and Yaakov Weiss, the team identified the first natural evidence of nickel-rich metallic alloys forming at depths of 280–470 km beneath Earth's surface.

Diamonds as Time Capsules

The discovery came from studying inclusions trapped within diamonds from South Africa's Voorspoed mine. The team found nickel-iron metallic nanoinclusions coexisting with nickel-rich carbonates—capturing a "redox-freezing" reaction where oxidized melts infiltrated reduced mantle rock.

"The diamonds act as tiny time capsules, preserving a reaction that would otherwise vanish as minerals re-equilibrate with their surroundings," says Weiss.

Why It Matters

This finding validates theoretical models and offers new insights into how volatile-rich magmas form in the mantle-magmas that eventually erupt and bring diamonds to the surface. The research may also help explain the origins of kimberlites and other magmas that shape our planet.

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Nevada, University of Cambridge, and Hebrew University's Nanocenter.

The research paper titled “Redox state of the deep upper mantle recorded by nickel-rich diamond inclusions” is now available in Nature Geoscience and can be accessed at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01791-4

For further reading:

A new study published in Geophysical Research Letters presents a framework for predicting the thermal response of lakes to diurnal and annual cycles of environmental forcing—such as incoming radiation, wind speed, and air properties—and for evaluating how these responses may change under future climate conditions.

The study was led by Guy Tau, a PhD candidate at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Geological Survey of Israel, together with Prof. Nadav  Lensky (Hebrew University & Geological Survey of Israel), Prof. Yehouda Enzel (Hebrew University), Dr. Vladimir Lyakhovsky (Geological Survey of Israel) and, in collaboration with Prof. Hamish McGowan from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Combining theoretical analysis with two years of direct eddy-covariance heat flux measurements from two adjacent lakes representing structural extremes—the deep, stratified Lake Kinneret and the shallow, mixed Agamon Hula Lake—the study developed new mathematical formulations to predict lake surface temperature and heat fluxes under cyclic environmental conditions.

These formulations were further applied to assess expected changes in surface temperature and evaporation rates in Eastern Mediterranean lakes under projected climate change scenarios, with crucial effects for water resource planning and ecosystem management in the face of climate change.

For the full paper