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New Experiments Show Earth’s Core May Hold Vast ‘Oceans’ of an Essential Element for Life
A new study using atom probe tomography finds Earth’s core holds 9 to 45 times more hydrogen than oceans, delivered during core formation 4.5 billion years ago.
- Tuesday, a Nature Communications study reported Earth's core contains nine to 45 times more hydrogen than the oceans, making it the largest reservoir, the study found.
- Researchers concluded hydrogen entered Earth's core during its formation around 4.5 billion years ago, as comet delivery would have left hydrogen mainly in shallower layers, Huang said.
- To recreate core pressures and temperatures, scientists coated iron with hydrous silicate glass, placed it in a diamond anvil cell and heated it to about 8,730 degrees Fahrenheit, revealing simultaneous dissolution of hydrogen, oxygen and silicon into iron.
- The study could settle the research community debate over delivery timing, as estimating core hydrogen is key to understanding its origin, Huang said, challenging prior X-ray diffraction assumptions.
- Amid long-running uncertainty, Dongyang Huang, study lead author, said `That hydrogen on Earth, including hydrogen in the core, was delivered during planet formation is an established hypothesis,' and the research team simulated core-formation conditions to test it.
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The Earth's core could be the largest hydrogen reservoir ever imagined. Recent research estimates that the center of our planet holds up to nine times more hydrogen than all the surface oceans combined. This finding…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left2Leaning Right1Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution73% Center
Bias Distribution
- 73% of the sources are Center
73% Center
L 18%
C 73%
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