The capacity for molecular hydrogen (H2) to hydrogenate oxygen and carbon is critical to the origin of life and represents the basis for all known life-forms. Major sources of H2 that strictly involve nonbiological processes and inorganic reactants include (1) the reduction of water during the oxidation of iron in minerals, (2) water splitting due to radioactive decay, (3) degassing of magma at low pressures, and (4) the reaction of water with surface radicals during mechanical breaking of silicate rocks. None of these processes seem to significantly affect the current global atmospheric budget of H2, yet there is substantial H2 cycling in a wide range of Earth’s subsurface environments, with multifaceted implications for microbial ecosystems.
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February 01, 2020
Abiotic Sources of Molecular Hydrogen on Earth
Frieder Klein;
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, 266 Woods Hole Rd, MS# 8, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
E-mail: fklein@whoi.edu
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Jesse D. Tarnas;
Brown University, Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, 324 Brook St., Box 1846, Providence, RI 02912, USA
E-mail: jesse_tarnas@brown.edu
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Wolfgang Bach
University of Bremen, MARUM and Geoscience Department, Klagenfurter Str. 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany
E-mail: wbach@marum.de
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Elements (2020) 16 (1): 19–24.
Article history
first online:
05 Mar 2020
Citation
Frieder Klein, Jesse D. Tarnas, Wolfgang Bach; Abiotic Sources of Molecular Hydrogen on Earth. Elements 2020;; 16 (1): 19–24. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.16.1.19
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- activity
- atmosphere
- chemical reactions
- comminution
- degassing
- Earth
- Eh
- fault zones
- faults
- geothermal systems
- hydrogen
- hydrothermal alteration
- igneous rocks
- iron sulfides
- life origin
- low pressure
- magmas
- metasomatism
- oxidation
- plutonic rocks
- pressure
- radioactive decay
- radioactive waste
- reduction
- serpentinization
- silicate rocks
- sulfides
- ultramafics
- waste disposal
- water
- water-rock interaction
- radiolysis
- molecular hydrogen
- abiotic processes
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