A spur-of-the-minute detour led to a “real great adventure” for a Parisian visitor to the United States.

Julien Navas, who was visiting the U.S. from France to see the launch of the first U.S. moon landing mission in decades from Cape Canaveral, Florida, also ventured to New Orleans. Along the way, he learned about the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, according to a news release from Arkansas State Parks.

Having panned for gold and searched for ammonite fossils before, Navas took an interest in the park.

On Jan. 11, Navas arrived at the park, bought his ticket, and rented a basic diamond hunting kit, according to the news release.

“I got to the park around nine o’clock and started to dig,” Navas said in the release. “That is back-breaking work, so by the afternoon I was mainly looking on top of the ground for anything that stood out.”

Lucky for Navas, the park had received more than an inch of rain a few days before he arrived, so it was wet and muddy, the release said. “As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface,” Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox explained.

Many of the park’s biggest diamonds are found on the surface, Cox said, and the park periodically plows the 37.5 acre search area to loosen the soil and to promote natural erosion.

Eventually, Navas emerged at the park’s Diamond Discovery Center with his findings. There, he was told he had found a 7.46-carat brown diamond.

Navas said he was stunned, according to the release, and said all he could think about was telling his fiancée what he had found. The stone is deep chocolate brown and rounded like a marble, according to the release, and is about the size of a gumdrop. Navas named his diamond the Carine Diamond, after his fiancée, and plans to have the stone divided into two diamonds, one to gift to his bride-to-be and the other for his daughter.

The Carine Diamond is the eighth-largest diamond found in the Crater of Diamonds since it became a state park in 1972, according to the news release. On average, park visitors find one or two diamonds there every day. The diamonds formed hundreds of millions of years ago, some 60 to 100 miles underground.

Geologists explained about 100 million years ago, there was a volcanic eruption, which carried the diamonds to the surface, according to the park’s website.

Navas called the park a “magical place, where the dream of finding a diamond can come true! It was a real great adventure.” Navas said he hopes to come back to the park with his daughter when she is older.

(SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【一时兴起】yīshí xìngqǐ spur-of-the-minute sudden and done without any planning

【果汁软糖】guǒzhī ruǎntáng gumdrop a chewy sweet that usually has a fruit flavor

一个巴黎人在美国旅游，一时兴起绕道，结果收获了一次“激动人心的发现”。朱利安•纳瓦斯前往美国佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角观看火箭发射，这是数十年来美国首次重启登月计划，随后又去了新奥尔良。据阿肯色州立公园发布的新闻稿称，他随后了解到该州的“钻石坑”州立公园。

纳瓦斯以前淘过金，也寻找过菊石化石，这个公园引起了他的兴趣。

新闻稿称，1月11日，纳瓦斯来到公园，买了票，并租了一套基础的钻石发掘工具。纳瓦斯说：“我九点左右到达公园，开始挖掘。挖掘是一项艰苦的工作，到了下午的时候，我主要是在地面上找任何不寻常的东西。”

新闻稿中说，纳瓦斯很幸运，在他到达的前几天，公园里下了一英寸多的雨，所以地面都是湿泥巴。

公园助理主管韦蒙•考克斯解释说：“雨水落在地上，冲走了浮土，露出了地表附近的厚重岩石、矿物质和钻石。”考克斯说，许多最大的钻石都是在地表发现的，公园会定期犁耕这片占地 37.5 英亩的搜索区，以疏松土壤，促进自然侵蚀。

最后，纳瓦斯带着他的发现来到了公园的钻石探索中心。在那里，他被告知发现了一颗重达7.46克拉的棕色钻石。新闻稿称，纳瓦斯说他当时惊呆了，满脑子想的都是要告诉他的未婚妻这个消息。新闻稿称，这颗钻石呈深巧克力棕色，像大理石一样圆润，和一颗果汁软糖差不多大小。

纳瓦斯以他未婚妻的名字将这颗钻石命名为“卡琳钻石”，并计划将这颗钻石分成两颗，一颗送给准新娘，另一颗送给女儿。新闻稿称，卡琳钻石是自1972年成立州立公园以来在钻石坑发现的第八大钻石。公园游客平均每天都会发现一到两颗钻石。这些钻石形成于数亿年前，位于地下约 60 到 100 英里处。

据公园网站介绍，地质学家认为大约一亿年前的火山爆发将钻石带到了地表。纳瓦斯称该公园是一个“神奇的地方，在这里能梦想成真找到钻石！这是一次真正伟大的冒险”。纳瓦斯还说希望等女儿长大后带她故地重游。(Translated by Debra)