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Specifically, the silica polymorphs in question were seifertite and stishovite, which are chemically identical to quartz.

Yet the scientists believe they solved this mystery by determining that the silica polymorph known as stishovite will turn into seifertite when experiencing high pressure before evolving into a third silica polymorph that was present in the sample: α-cristobalite.

“In other words, seifertite could form from α-cristobalite during the compressing process, and some of the sample transformed to stishovite during the subsequent temperature-increasing process,” author Wei Du of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

This temperature and pressure change occurs rapidly and has distinctive features, including the formation of silica polymorphs like stishovite and seifertite, which are chemically identical to quartz but have different crystalline structures.

However, a silica fragment in the CE-5 sample contains both stishovite and seifertite, minerals that theoretically only coexist at much higher pressures than the sample seemingly experienced.