Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and their colleagues used a new geochemical tool to shed light on the origin of nitrogen and other volatile elements on Earth, which may also prove useful as a way to monitor the activity of volcanoes. Their findings were published April 16, 2020, in the journal Nature.

Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, and is the primary component of the air we breathe. Nitrogen is also found in rocks, including those tucked deep within the planet's interior. Until now, it was difficult to distinguish between nitrogen sources coming from air and those coming from inside the Earth's mantle when measuring gases from volcanoes.

"We found that air contamination was masking the pristine 'source signature' of many volcanic gas samples," says WHOI geochemist Peter Barry, a coauthor of the study.

Without that distinction, scientists weren't able to answer basic questions like: Is nitrogen left over from Earth's formation or was it delivered to the planet later on? How is nitrogen from the atmosphere related to nitrogen coming out of volcanoes?

Barry and lead author Jabrane Labidi of UCLA, now a researcher at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, worked in partnership with international geochemists to analyze volcanic gas samples from around the globe - including gases from Iceland and Yellowstone National Park - using a new method of analyzing "clumped" nitrogen isotopes.

This method provided a unique way to identify molecules of nitrogen that come from air, which allowed the researchers to see the true gas compositions deep within Earth's mantle. This ultimately revealed evidence that nitrogen in the mantle has most likely been there since our planet initially formed.

"Once air contamination is accounted for, we gained new and valuable insights into the origin of nitrogen and the evolution of our planet," Barry says.

While this new method helps scientists understand the origins of volatile elements on Earth, it may also prove useful as a way of monitoring the activity of volcanoes. This is because the composition of gases bellowing from volcanic centers change prior to eruptions. It could be that the mix of mantle and air nitrogen could one day be used as a signal of eruptions.

Research paper

Related Links
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Explore The Early Earth at TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Early worm lost lower limbs for tube-dwelling lifestyle
Exeter UK (SPX) Feb 28, 2020
Scientists have discovered the earliest known example of an animal evolving to lose body parts it no longer needed. Mystery has long surrounded the evolution of Facivermis, a worm-like creature that lived approximately 518 million years ago in the Cambrian period. It had a long body and five pairs of spiny arms near its head, leading to suggestions it might be a "missing link" between legless cycloneuralian worms and a group of fossil animals called "lobopodians", which had paired limbs all ... read more