2023-10-27 05:00:00
The traces of helium and neon spotted by geochemists come from the core, the bowels of our planet Earth. Anthony Kaczmarek 27/10/2023 07:00 4 min
Sorry to start this article with a dirty sentence, but yes, the Earth releases gases, and even very old gases! An already well-known phenomenon, except that this time, scientists have discovered traces of gas coming from the bowels of the core of our planet. Is this a threat?
Gases trapped in ore
This group of geochemists relied on of previous data from olivinesa type of ore from volcanic lava, from the silicate familyvery present on Baffin Island, the largest island in Canada. These olivines trap neon and especially helium (two noble gases)and the concentration of the latter is at a level 50 times higher than normal.
Nature research paper: Highest terrestrial 3He/4He credibly from the core https://t.co/pIZVjmI3Jy
— nature (@Nature) October 19, 2023
What challenged the researchers, as they explain in their study published on October 18 in the journal Natureis that Helium is a light gas that is rarely encountered on the Earth’s surface (it tends to escape into the atmosphere and then drift into space). Gold, helium, we have it under our feet, since the core of the Earth contains it.
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During his training, 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth actually “swallowed” helium : part has since been rejected via thevolcanic activitybut the big unknown is knowing how many are left in the bowels of the Earth. These gases found in the ore therefore certainly escaped from the core of our planet: we still have to prove it!
A very precious core!
The geochemists then had to check that these traces of gas did not come from the atmospherethanks to the atomic mass of helium found. Or, the helium analyzed in these lavas contains helium 3HEmuch lighter than the helium of the atmosphere, same thing for neon Moreover. Both therefore come from bowels of the Earth…
The Earth releases gases, and they come from its core https://t.co/SCrkeLjrhN
— Le HuffPost (@LeHuffPost) October 23, 2023
Is this then a threat to our planet? Absolutely not, as the quantity expelled by the Earth is tiny. Researchers are also trying to trace the route of these gases underground : what is certain is thatthey were trapped in the core andas the earth grew, they attempted to escape to return to the surface.
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Far from being a danger, these gases will allow us to know more about the composition of the core of our planetand therefore on the conditions of its training. The core is in fact under thousands of kilometers of dense and hot rocks, and is perfectly inaccessible to science. These gas leaks are therefore a essential tool for understanding the origins of the Earth.
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