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6h ago

New Experiments Suggest Earth’s Core Holds Nine to 45 Oceans’ Worth of Hydrogen

Experiments replicating core formation used atom probe tomography to show hydrogen paired with silicon in iron.

Image
Illustration of Earth's layers showing the molten iron core.
Computer illustration showing Earth's internal structure. The core consists of an inner region and an outer region. The mantle consists of the mesosphere, the athenosphere, and the lower part of the lithosphere. The crust is the upper part of the lithosphere. The crust is around 40 kilometres thick in the continents, and as little as 5 kilometres thick in the deep ocean. The mantle is a viscous layer of rock some 2900 kilometres deep. The outer core is a liquid composed of molten iron and nickel. Convection currents in these metals are responsible for producing the Earth's magnetic field. The outer core is around 2250 kilometres thick. Below it is the solid inner core which is a hot, solid sphere of iron and nickel, some 1200 kilometres in radius, at a temperature of around 5500 degrees Celsius.
A diagram showing the structure of a diamond anvil cell.

Overview

  • Researchers report in Nature Communications that hydrogen likely makes up about 0.07% to 0.36% of Earth’s core by weight.
  • Diamond anvil cells and laser heating to roughly 4,830°C recreated early core conditions, and atom probe tomography mapped elements at the nanoscale.
  • Hydrogen and silicon were found together inside iron structures in an approximately one-to-one atomic ratio, enabling the hydrogen estimate using prior silicon constraints.
  • The findings indicate hydrogen was captured during core formation rather than added later by cometary impacts.
  • Hydrogen leaking into the oxygen-rich mantle could form water and affect mantle melting and volcanic activity, though leakage rates and impacts require further validation.