Earth's core is leaking, 'treasure' 13.8 billion years ago escapes to the surface

An ancient event caused the Earth's crust to partially melt, creating openings that let helium-3 treasure from the planet's heart gradually escape.

New research from the University of New Mexico (USA) shows that an extremely rare type of helium (helium gas) belonging to the proto universe 13.8 billion years ago is actually hidden in the Earth's core and is constantly creeping up bit by bit. one through several cracks.

Leaking Earth's core, "released" helium-3 carries many secrets of planet formation

According to Live Science, most of the helium-3 in the universe was created shortly after the Big Bang. Some of the early helium-3 has combined with other gas and dust particles in the Solar nebula - the molecular cloud from which the Sun and other planets orbit it.

Thus, this finding also strengthens the hypothesis that the Earth formed very early in the early solar system, right during the period when the solar nebula was thriving, not as a "born after" planet. late birth" when the nebula has weakened.

Geophysicist Peter Olson, lead author of the study, says helium-3 is a helium isotope that has only 1 neutron in its nucleus, instead of 2. It is an extremely rare gas, making up only 0.0001%. all the helium on Earth.

New research shows that about 2 kg of helium-3 escapes the Earth's core, leaking to the surface each year, mainly along the inter-oceanic ridge system where tectonic plates meet.

Scientists have not been able to calculate exactly how much helium-3 comes from the core, how much comes from the mantle and how many "treasures" from this early universe are still hidden in our planet. But according to leak models, there must be at least 10 million tons to 1 billion tons of helium-3 buried in the core.

This leak may have come from more than 4 billion years ago, when a Mars-sized planet slammed into Earth, sending out a plume of gas and dust that would later coalesce into the Moon. This event melted part of the original Earth's crust, so helium-3 has a way of finding its way to the surface.

Tracing this treasure, scientists hope to answer many puzzles related to the origin and formation of our planet.