Researcher links Siberian lore to New Zealand jade’s strength
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Natalia Seliutina, a Ph.D. candidate originally from Siberia, Russia, is studying pounamu, also known as greenstone, in New Zealand to understand why it is one of the toughest natural materials on Earth.
Seliutina’s interest in rocks began in childhood, influenced by Udmurt fairy tales about stones and her grandmother’s traditions surrounding nephrite jade.
She noticed cultural differences in how jade is valued, in Russia, brighter varieties are preferred, while in New Zealand, the connection to pounamu is more personal and individual. Seliutina’s research combines materials science with traditional Māori knowledge, or mātauranga. She discovered that experienced pounamu carvers could accurately assess the quality of stone for carving based on their senses, aligning with her own scientific measurements of fracture resistance.
In 2024, she used a particle accelerator in Taiwan to examine the stone’s microscopic structure, revealing that pounamu’s unique fibrous composition contributes to its strength. This research began with a question posed by Māori carvers, why is pounamu so tough? and aims to benefit them by developing methods to detect internal cracks in the stone using sound waves, reducing waste.
Seliutina believes understanding pounamu’s properties could eventually lead to the creation of new, durable materials for use in demanding environments like space exploration, combining the corrosion resistance of ceramics with the fracture resistance of metal.
