Abstract

The cocktail of noble-gas isotopes in an Icelandic rock suggests that the upper mantle does not, and never did, receive gas from a deeper mantle reservoir. This challenges ideas of deep Earth's behaviour and formation. See Letter p.101 This analysis of noble gas content in Icelandic basaltic rocks — material produced by the melting of a deep upwelling of hot rock in Earth's mantle — indicates that their source is less degassed than that of mid-ocean-ridge basalts and that Earth's mantle has accreted volatiles from at least two separate sources. The author concludes that neither the Moon-forming impact nor billions of years of mantle convection has erased the signature of Earth's heterogeneous accretion and early differentiation.

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