Abstract
HELIUM isotope studies on terrestrial samples have revealed the existence of two helium components which are clearly distinct from atmospheric helium. The first of these, which we term ‘crustal helium’, was identified in 1946 in natural gas wells1. This crustal component is produced by radioactive decay of U and Th to 4He, with 3He production by (n, α) reactions on Li; the resulting helium is characterised by 3He/4He ≃ 10−7, one-tenth of the atmospheric ratio2. The second component, ‘mantle helium’, was discovered as ‘excess 3He’ in deep ocean water, attributed to a flux of primordial helium from the mantle3. Studies of the 3He/4He ratio in deep water on the East Pacific Rise4 and in helium trapped in submarine basalt glasses5,6 have shown that this mantle component is characterised by 3He/4He ≃ 10−5, about 10 times the atmospheric ratio and 100 times the ratio in crustal helium. Basalt glasses from the Western Pacific Lau Basin, the East Pacific Rise, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge contain trapped helium with similar 3He/4He ratios, indicating that mantle helium in at least three areas in which new lithosphere is being formed has a unique and uniform isotopic signature.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldrich, L. T. & Nier, A. O. Phys. Rev. 70, 983 (1946).
Morrison, P. & Pine, J. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 62, 69 (1955).
Clarke, W. B., Beg, M. A. & Craig, H. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 6, 213 (1969).
Craig, H., Clarke, W. B. & Beg, M. A. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 26, 125 (1975).
Lupton, J. E. & Craig, H. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 26, 133 (1975).
Craig, H. & Lupton, J. E. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 31, 369 (1976).
Swallow, J. C. & Crease, J. Nature 205, 165 (1965).
Craig, H. Science 134, 1544 (1966).
Craig, H. in Hot Brines and Recent Heavy Metal Deposits in the Red Sea (eds Degens, E. T. & Ross, D. A.) 208–242 (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1969).
Weiss, R. F. ibid, 254–260 (1969).
Weiss, R. F. J. chem. Engng. Data 16, 235 (1971); Science 168, 247 (1970).
Mamyrin, B. A., Anufriyev, C. S., Kamenskiy, I. L. & Tolstikhin, I. N. Int. Geochem. 7, 498 (1970).
Backer, H. & Schoell, M. Nature 240, 153 (1972).
Dymond, J. & Hogan, L. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 20, 131 (1973).
Fisher, D. E. Geophys. Res. Lett. 1, 161 (1964).
Craig, H., Lupton, J. E., Chung, Y. & Horowitz, R. M., Tech. Rep. No. 1, Scripps Inst. Oceanography Ref. No. 75–15, March (1975).
Williams, D. L., Von Herzen, R. P., Sclater, J. G. & Anderson, R. N. Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc. 38, 587 (1974).
Weiss, R. F., Lupton, J. E., Lonsdale, P. F., Bainbridge, A. E. & Craig, H. Trans. Am. geophys. Union 57, 935 (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The erratum article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1038/266748a0
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LUPTON, J., WEISS, R. & CRAIG, H. Mantle helium in the Red Sea brines. Nature 266, 244–246 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/266244a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/266244a0
This article is cited by
-
Hydrothermal fluid migration and brine pool formation in the Red Sea: the Atlantis II Deep
Mineralium Deposita (2016)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.