Besides the hiking, biking, and camping opportunities the National and State Parks provide, it seems, visitors now have another to visit - about a 2.93 carats!

Last week, Nicole Ruhter, a 13-year old seventh-grader, who is probably to young to grasp what the find means, discovered a 2.93-carat diamond in the Crater of Diamonds State Park, located in Arkansas. The park operates on a "finders keepers" policy, which means visitors can keep what they find. Crater Diamonds State Park is the world's only public diamond site.

Since it became a state park in 1972, rockhounds have taken home more than 25,000 diamonds from the "crater," a 37-acre (15-hectare) plowed field on an eroded volcanic pipe. The treasures are the aftereffect of 3 billion years of high-pressure carbon-to-diamond metamorphosis and an auspicious eruption some 95 million years ago. The blast created a Y-shaped crater that funneled back the explosive material that, over time, preserved the diamonds.

In 1924, the crater yielded the largest diamond ever found in the United States-a 40.23-carat whopper named "Uncle Sam"-and in 1990, the most perfect diamond, a 3.03 carat, ever certified by the American Gem Society. Amethyst, agate, jasper, and garnet speckle the site, along with everyday rocks and pebbles.

Henderson says the mine sees "everyone from the novice to the trader hunter," but it's especially popular among children. Pint-sized prospectors have even unearthed some heavyweights. Last March, eight-year-old twins ferreted out a 2.50-carat specimen later displayed at the Houston Museum, and in 1963 a 14-month-old was discovered gumming an 11.92-carat white diamond.

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