At a Glance

Seven-year-old Aspen Brown was with her family at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.The site is one of the few places in the world where the public can hunt for diamonds.Brown found hers when she sat down to take a break from the heat.

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H​ot weather helped a 7-year-old girl find a nearly 3-carat diamond in an Arkansas state park on Labor Day weekend.

Seven-year-old Aspen Brown was walking in the aptly named Crater of Diamonds State Park with her family on Sept. 1 when she needed a break from late-summer heat that drove temperatures to that day.

“She got hot and wanted to sit down for a minute, so she walked over to some big rocks by the fence line," Aspen's dad, Luther Brown, told officials at the park. "Next thing I know, she was running to me, saying ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’”

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Aspen's find turned out to be a 2.95-carat golden brown diamond, according to a from the aptly named Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. It's about the size of a pea.

Aspen and her family had gone to the park to celebrate her birthday. They live in , Arkansas, about a four-hour drive.

Seven-year-old Aspen Brown found this diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.

(Crater of Diamonds State Park)

T​hey were walking through an area of the park where a large trench had recently been dug.

“Several tons of unsearched diamond-bearing material were exposed and it’s very possible that this diamond and others were uncovered as a result," park superintendent Caleb Howell said.

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Diamonds deep underground between one and three billion years ago, according to the International Gemological Institute. Crater of Diamonds sits on the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic vent. Its explosion about 100 million years ago pushed rocks and other material, including diamonds, close to the surface.

Crater of Diamonds is one of the only places in the world where the public can search for diamonds, and everyone is allowed to keep their treasure. More than have been found since it became an Arkansas state park in 1972, including the 40-carat Uncle Sam, the largest diamond ever unearthed in the U.S.

A​spen's diamond is the second-largest picked up at the park this year.

Examples of the types of stones found at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

(Crater of Diamonds State Park)

Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.

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