The exchange of physical matter between the Earth's core and mantle has been a topic of debate among scientists for decades. However, this puzzle was finally uncovered in the near future.
Scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have detected an "astonishing amount" of rare helium isotope helium-3 in volcanic rocks on Baffin Island, Canada, providing strong support for the discovery that "inert gases are leaking from the Earth's core". Related scientists suggest that helium-3 may have started leaking from the Earth's core into the mantle as early as 100 million years ago, or even earlier. The study was published in the journal Nature on October 18th.
Coming from the Big Bang of the universe
As a rocky planet, Earth has a very distinct layered structure.
In 1910, Mohorovich, who was conducting scientific research in Antarctica, discovered changes in seismic waves 50 kilometers underground while using seismic waves to detect the condition of the Antarctic ice sheet, thus discovering the Mohorovich discontinuity; In 1914, Gutenberg used professional seismic wave instruments to explore the interior of the Earth. He discovered the existence of interfaces of different substances at a distance of 2900 kilometers inside the Earth, thus discovering the Gutenberg surface.
Subsequently, based on the discoveries of Mohorovich and Gutenberg, the Earth was divided into four levels: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core, with the inner and outer cores commonly referred to as the Earth's core. The Earth's core is the hottest place on Earth, especially the inner core, with temperatures ranging from 4000 ℃ to 6800 ℃.
So, where does helium-3 gas in the Earth's core come from?
In fact, there are many ways to generate helium-3, for example, we can use the radioactive decay of tritium to obtain it. However, tritium has a long half-life of 12 years, and the efficiency of producing helium-3 in this way is very low. In fact, the vast majority of helium-3 in the universe came from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
The Big Bang cosmology holds that the universe was formed by the expansion of a dense and hot singularity after a Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, and gradually expanded, evolved, and developed into today's material world. During this process, a large amount of hydrogen and helium were also released. Over time, these elements have also been involved in the formation process of celestial bodies in the universe, including Earth. That is to say, when the Earth formed, helium may have been trapped in the Earth's core, making it a reservoir for this inert gas. And helium-3 slowly rose to the surface with the leakage of the Earth's core, and was eventually discovered on Baffin Island.
Helium-3 Wandering to Earth
So, will the leakage of helium-3 from the Earth's core affect the planet?
The main author of the research article, Forrest Horton, a scientist in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, explained that the leakage of helium-3 from the Earth's core will not affect the Earth, nor will it have any negative impact on the Earth. Inert gases do not react chemically with other substances, therefore they do not have any impact on humans or the environment
So, since the leakage of helium-3 into Earth has no adverse effects on us, why do scientists still need to conduct research on it?
In fact, unraveling the mystery of the "leakage" from the Earth's core is crucial for the development of Earth science.
The core of the Earth is the internal heat source, and its activity is closely related to the generation of the Earth's magnetic field. By studying the material movement and "leakage" phenomena in the Earth's core, we can better understand the interactions between the Earth's thermodynamic evolution, crustal movement, and atmospheric and hydrological cycles.
The achievements in unraveling the mystery of the "leakage" of the Earth's core not only provide a more complete model of the Earth's interior for the field of Earth science, but also have important practical application value for global resource exploration, geological and geophysical reservoir research, environmental protection, and earthquake disaster prediction. At the same time, they also provide valuable scientific references for us to better understand the internal structure, evolution, and dynamics of planets.
Based on this study, future researchers will continue to explore the mechanisms and dynamic processes that lead to the leakage of the Earth's core. To achieve this goal, scientists need to further strengthen the seismic observation network, improve the resolution and accuracy of seismic waves, in order to obtain more accurate information on the movement of core material.
In addition, they also need to use laboratory simulations and numerical simulations to simulate the thermodynamic processes and material flows in the Earth's core, in order to search for the physical, chemical, and thermodynamic mechanisms related to the "leakage" phenomenon. I am looking forward to studying similar issues. Perhaps through helium, we can also trace other elements that pass through the mantle boundary, "Horton said.