Scientists Discover Hidden Oxygen Reservoir Deep Within the Earth

🔬 Discovery of a Hidden Oxygen Reservoir Deep Within the Earth Changes Our Concepts of Volcanic Activity and Atmospheric Evolution

Scientists have discovered that molten rocks deep inside the Earth are capable of storing amounts of oxygen greater than previously thought. This discovery opens new horizons for understanding the relationship between volcanic activity and the formation of Earth’s atmosphere, especially in ancient geological periods.

🔬 Scientists Change Their View of Oxygen Content in Magma

Oxygen is considered the most abundant element in Earth’s chemical structure, and it has always formed a major part of the minerals and rocks that make up the crust and mantle. Even so, the prevailing hypothesis indicated that magma or volcanic lava does not contain more oxygen than its chemical equilibria allow with elements such as silicon, iron, and magnesium.

Unlike volatile gases such as water and carbon dioxide, which dissolve in magma and are released when pressure drops, oxygen was not seen as a separate and variable component in magma; rather, it was believed to be linked only to the other chemical constituents.

🧪 High-Pressure Experiments Reveal Hidden “Excess” Oxygen

Using advanced devices capable of generating very high pressures reaching levels equivalent to nearly 69,000 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface, a team of researchers heated rock samples of a certain type of volcanic lava known in regions where tectonic plates diverge beneath the depths of the ocean.

Under these conditions, platinum oxide was added to help create an oxygen-rich environment. After rapid cooling to analyze the composition of the samples, the researchers found that the magma contained an additional amount of oxygen that was not bound to the other elements as usual. This amount represents a large percentage of the material’s weight, proving the presence of “hidden” oxygen in magma.

Spectroscopic analysis showed that oxygen does not accumulate as a gas in small bubbles inside the magma, but instead enters its internal structure directly.

💻 Computer Models Reveal the Mechanism of Oxygen Dissolution in Magma

The researchers then simulated atomic interactions within magma using models based on artificial intelligence and high computational precision to simulate the fundamentals of quantum mechanics.

The results showed that the additional oxygen dissolves in the molten material until the system reaches a state of equilibrium in oxygen absorption and release. The simulations indicate that oxygen dissolution is linked to the pressure of the environment surrounding the magma, as oxygen absorption increases with rising pressure.

The researchers also revealed changes in how oxygen atoms bond with one another, as bonds resembling single chemical bonds between atoms appeared, which explains the magma’s ability to contain excess oxygen.

🌍 A Potential Role for Hidden Oxygen in Atmospheric Evolution

This discovery represents an exciting new hypothesis about the possibility that magma may have transported large amounts of oxygen from the Earth’s interior to the surface through volcanic activity.

When magma moves from the deep mantle, where pressure is extremely high, to higher regions where pressure is lower, the pressure drop can lead to the release of excess oxygen, which in turn contributes to oxidizing the surrounding materials. This chemical reaction may have played a role in increasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere over geological ages.

The researchers link this possibility to an ancient period that witnessed a notable increase in atmospheric oxygen concentration, coinciding with massive volcanic activity that resulted in vast expanses of volcanic rocks. The hypothesis suggests that oxygen venting from these volcanic regions may have contributed significantly to changing the composition of the atmosphere.

🌐 The Importance of the Discovery in Understanding Earth’s Evolution and Other Planets

These results open new areas of research in planetary science, especially in understanding how the internal processes of rocky planets affect the composition of their atmospheres and create conditions suitable for life.

In addition, treating oxygen as an independent component that is absorbed and released by magma changes scientific models of gas-volcanic material interactions, which may help explain developments in ancient Earth, such as the existence of seas and ecosystems that depend on oxygen.

Determining how much oxygen natural magma can carry and how it reaches the atmosphere remains a challenge for future studies, but this discovery confirms that some of the factors that shaped our planet for life began deep within the Earth, out of sight.

Source: National Science Review

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