Visitor finds 2.30-carat diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park

On Friday, September 27, a guest visiting Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park found a 2.30-carat white diamond in the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area. This is the third diamond over two carats registered this year and the second-largest diamond registered in 2024.

Eager for the day, the finder arrived at the park when the doors opened at 8 a.m. They rented a basic kit from the park’s Diamond Discovery Center and started out wet sifting, a searching method that involves washing dirt from diamond-bearing gravel through screens of graduated sizes in water. After a few hours of no luck, the guest decided to try surface searching, stating, “If I find a diamond today, it will probably be right here on the surface.”

Many of the park’s largest diamonds are found on the surface. “We periodically plow the search area to loosen the diamond-bearing soil and promote natural erosion,” Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox said. “As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface.”

The conditions for surface searching on September 27 were ideal. Not only was it a beautiful sunny day, allowing the sunlight to hit a diamond just right, but the search area had recently been plowed and had received rainfall just two days before.

While walking just west of the covered North Wash pavilion, the guest spotted something sparkling on top of the ground. “From far away it shined so clearly,” they said. “I thought it might be a piece of trash or a bug; it was so much shinier than anything else out there.”

Once the guest walked over and picked it up, they quickly realized it was not a bug or a piece of trash, but a glimmering stone. They stuck the gem in their pocket and had it checked by park staff at the Diamond Discovery Center before leaving for lunch.

Park Interpreter Sarah Reap was at the rock and mineral identification counter when the finder brought their stone up and calmly laid it on the desk. “Even after a few years of working here, I am still surprised when a finder pulls a large diamond out of their pocket so nonchalantly.” Reap said. Moments later, she confirmed it to be a diamond weighing over two carats.

The silvery-white gem has a round, pitted surface and is about the size of a pencil eraser. At first glance, the diamond appears brown, but closer inspection reveals numerous inclusions. These tiny imperfections affect how light passes through the diamond. While the center looks dark brown, the outside of the diamond is clear white.

White diamonds are closest to a pure carbon crystal, while brown diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park are caused by plastic deformation, a structural defect that causes them to appear brown throughout. Almost all natural diamonds have inclusions or blemishes that affect their appearance.

As of this writing, 548 diamonds have been registered by park guests in 2024, weighing more than 82 carats. An average of one to two diamonds are found each day.