Researchers discover 'Earth's lost nitrogen': planet's core absorbed it 4.6 billion years ago

Researchers from the Center for Geodynamics at Ehime University in Japan have solved one of the long-standing mysteries of planetology: where did the nitrogen from the Earth's mantle go if its concentration in the atmosphere is so high? It turns out that about 4.6 billion years ago, during the formation of the Earth, most of the nitrogen was absorbed by the core due to the unique conditions of the magma ocean of that time. This helps to understa…