Abstract
The discovery of 3He in basaltic glasses and in seawater that has cycled through mid-ocean ridges has confirmed the reality of the release of juvenile gases from the mantle today. The rate of 3He loss from the mantle is now reasonably well-known. Since the ratio of the concentration of this nuclide to that of 20Ne, 36Ar, 84Kr, 132Xe has been measured in a number of mantle xenoliths and volcanic rocks, the rate at which the rare gases are released from the mantle can be estimated. The most likely value of the degassing rate of 20Ne and 36Ar is approximately 13% of the mean degassing rate, defined as the total quantity of these nuclides in the atmosphere divided by the age of the Earth. The low value of the present degassing rate is consistent with an early period of intense degassing from the mantle. Most of the CO2that is added to the atmosphere today is recycled rather than juvenile. This seems to have been true during much of geologic time. The acid- base balance of crustal rocks has been remarkably constant during the past 3000 m.y.; this indicates that the rate of supply of weathering acids has been matched rather closely by the rate of conversion of igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks into sedimentary rocks.
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© 1984 Dr. S. Bernhard, Dahlem Konferenzen
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Holland, H.D. (1984). Degassing of the Earth. In: Holland, H.D., Trendall, A.F. (eds) Patterns of Change in Earth Evolution. Dahlem Workshop Reports Physical, Chemical, and Earth Sciences Research Reports, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69317-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69317-5_18
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