31-year-old New Yorker who found a 2-karat diamond in a volcanic crater is going to wear it for an engagement ring

Environment·Jewelry31-year-old New Yorker who found a 2-karat diamond in a volcanic crater is going to wear it for an engagement ringBy The Associated PressBy The Associated Press Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas.Getty ImagesA New York woman has unearthed a 2-carat white diamond at an Arkansas state park, a gem she says will be used in her engagement ring

Micherre Fox of Manhattan spent several weeks at the state park in July after deciding to forage for a diamond, according to a news release from Waymon Cox, an assistant superintendent at Crater of Diamonds State Park

The 31-year-old woman ed for diamonds during much of July in a 37-acre field that is part of the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater

It wasn’t until her last day at the park, while walking, that she spotted something glistening at her feet

Park staff confirmed that the sparkly gem the size of a person’s canine tooth was a 2.3-carat diamond. “I got on my knees and cried, then started laughing,” Fox said in the statement

Park staff plows the field periodically to loosen the soil and make diamond hunting easier

Park visitors have found and kept more than 35,000 diamonds since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972, according to park officials

The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed there in 1924 during an early mining operation, park officials said

Known as Uncle Sam, the white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats and was later cut into a 12.42-carat emerald shape

It’s part of the Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection and can be seen at the National Museum of Natural History

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