J. Drescher et al., THE RARE-GAS INVENTORY OF THE CONTINENTAL-CRUST, RECOVERED BY THE KTBCONTINENTAL DEEP DRILLING PROJECT, Earth and planetary science letters, 154(1-4), 1998, pp. 247-263
The rare gas inventory of the continental crust as mirrored in the con
tinental metamorphic rocks from the ''KTB'' deep drilling site in NE B
avaria, Germany, has been investigated through systematic isotope anal
ysis of 47 whole-rock samples and 10 mineral separates from the drill
core. The measured concentrations confirm a very low crustal inventory
of noble gases relative to the atmosphere (less than or equal to 0.2%
). The presence of a mantle helium component is identified by He-3 exc
ess leading to a range of 2 x 10(-8) less than or equal to He-3/He-4 l
ess than or equal to 6.5 x 10(-6) for the He isotopic ratio. Excesses
of Ne-21 and of heavy xenon isotopes demonstrate the presence of nucle
ogenic and fissionogenic gases. The acquired data have enabled us to e
stimate loss rates of He-4, Ne-21(nucl), Ar-40 and Xe-136(fiss) from t
ypical crustal rocks. The global extension of these rates to the conti
nents yields degassing fluxes of (2-3) x 10(10) atoms m(-2) s(-1) for
He-4, 900-2100 atoms m(-2) s(-1) for Ne-21 and (1-6) x 10(9) atoms m(-
2) s(-1) for Ar-40, in good agreement with theoretical estimates from
atmospheric models and from accumulated gases in crustal fluids. (C) 1
998 Elsevier Science B.V.