More than 99.999% of Earth's gold reserves lie trapped in the core, formed over 4.5 billion years ago. The metallic core holds a slightly greater proportion of the isotope 100Ru compared to the mantle, a distinction that was previously undetectable. Thanks to advanced analytical techniques developed at Gottingen, researchers were able to identify these subtle differences.
"When the first results came in, we realised that we had literally struck gold! Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into the Earth's mantle above," said Dr Nils Messling of the Department of Geochemistry.
Professor Matthias Willbold added, "Our findings not only show that the Earth's core is not as isolated as previously assumed. We can now also prove that huge volumes of super-heated mantle material - several hundreds of quadrillion metric tonnes of rock - originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to the Earth's surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii."
The findings suggest that some of the Earth's accessible precious metals may trace their origins to this ongoing geodynamic process. Messling emphasized the broader implications: "Whether these processes that we observe today have also been operating in the past remains to be proven. Our findings open up an entirely new perspective on the evolution of the inner dynamics of our home planet."
Research Report:Ru and W isotope systematics in ocean island basalts reveals core leakage
Related Links
University of Gottingen
Space Technology News - Applications and Research
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
