New Geochemical Tool Helps WHOI Researchers in Nitrogen Study

WOODS HOLE – Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of California Los Angeles, and other colleagues used a new geochemical tool to shed light on the origin of nitrogen and other volatile elements on Earth.

The research was published recently in the journal “Nature” and may prove useful as a way to monitor the activity of volcanoes.

Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, and is the primary component of air.

Nitrogen is also found in rocks, including those tucked deep within the planet’s interior.

Until this research, it was difficult for scientists 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,” said WHOI geochemist Peter Barry, a coauthor of the study.

Without the distinction, scientists were not able to answer basic questions regarding where sources of nitrogen formed and differences between volcanic and atmospheric nitrogen.

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 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 the 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,” continued Barry.

While the 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 that come from volcanic centers change prior to eruptions.

It is believed that the mix of mantle and air nitrogen could someday be used as a signal of eruptions.

The study was supported by the Deep Carbon Observatory and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The research team also included colleagues David Bekaert and Mark Kurz from WHOI, scientists from several other U.S. based universities, and from France, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Iceland.

To view the research paper, click here.

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