Researchers discover massive geo-hydrogen source to the west of the Mussau Trench

Hydrogen is the most abundant element of the solar system. As a source of clean energy, hydrogen is well suited to sustainable development and the earth is a natural hydrogen factory. However, most hydrogen vents reported to date are small and the geological processes responsible for hydrogen formation – as well as the quantities that can be kept in geological environment – are not clear.

To better understand the availability of geological hydrogen, researchers from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) and their collaborators have discovered and analyzed a large swarm of pipe – a group of cylindrical geological structures – with hydrogen hydrogen hydrothermal activity on the East Carolina plate, west of the Mussau tranche.

The Mussau trench is a fossil trench, which means that it is an old one (started around 25 million years ago) and now an inactive trench that has stopped tectonic activity. The newly discovered pipe swarm, named “Kunlun”, consists of diameter pipes ranging from 450 to 1,800 meters.

The study was published in Scientific advances.

Hydrothermal fluids – a mixture of heated water and dissolved minerals – are reprimanded through small tubes, ranging from centimeters diameter to under -centimeters, along the sides of the pokmarks (small crater depressions) inside large pipes, or by speeds or cookies in Breccia pillars (accumulations of angular rock fragments). Most gaps in hydrothermal cracks are partially yellowish, probably due to microbial carpets (layers of microorganisms).

Similar to other hydrothermal fields, hydrothermal biotas (communities of living organisms) are also found in the swarm of Kunlun pipe. The scorpion fish – The Ecosystem Apex predator – is commonly found in the Kunlun pipe swarm.

Since the biomass of the Apex predator should be much lower than that of its prey, the researchers expect that a large amount of microbial carpets are in piles of Breccia at the bottom of the pipe of pipes.

In addition, more than 800 short -term seismic events – earthquakes and earthquakes – were detected over a period of 28 days along a profile of 150 kilometers across the trench, indicating a generalized active gas leak during the entire Mussau trench.

The isotopic analysis of agglomerated nitrogen (a method of tracing the origins of the gas) of a sample of hydrothermal fluid has revealed a dominant atmospheric gas component.

A hydrogen hydrogen activity previously reported has been located near the active plate margins, for example, distributed ridges or active nearby transformed flaws which expose the peridotite of the coat, like the lost city.

On the other hand, the large Kunlun hydrothermal fields rich in hydrogen are located about 80 kilometers from the active plate margins.

These hydrothermal pipes have steep walls, with abundant gaps and several generations of brands of bowl -shaped pockets, similar to those of Kimberlite, indicating several generations of explosions. Using empirically derived breath energy estimates, so large formation of pipes would require millions of TNT tonnes.

The most likely energy source for the formation of such important pipes is hydrogen. Hydrogen tablet can release a huge amount of energy. For example, a ton of hydrogen extending adiabatically from 1,500 bars to 400 bar – the pressure to the depths of the swarm of the Kunlun pipes – can release the same amount of energy as 0.21 tonnes of TNT.

To form such pipes, a large amount of hydrogen would be necessary. Alternatively, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen would be very explosive. A ton of hydrogen reacting with oxygen releases 143 GJ of heat, which is 150 times more energy than the quantity released by physical expansion.

According to Professor Xiao Yuanyuan, the first author of the study, the results suggest that a potentially enormous quantity of hydrogen may have been formed deeply in the lithospheric coat of the ocean. “It could be economically mobile in the future,” said Professor Xiao.