Unlocking Secret Of Where Earth's Missing Lead Went

Geoscientists have relied on different forms of lead to understand Earth's geological history and how it was created over billions of years. However, there is a mystery that has been puzzling scientists for decades: the Earth is missing a massive amount of lead that ought to be in the planet's crust.

A recent study from researchers led by Professor Simon Redfern from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's Asian School of the Environment may have finally provided new insights. By exploring how lead behaves under the crushing pressures of Earth's interior, they found that the solution to one of our planet's oldest chemical secrets could in fact be hiding beneath our feet in the planet's mantle layer.

Using computer simulations, the researchers showed that a compound called lead sulphide becomes extraordinarily stable under extreme pressures, which are conditions that can be found deep in the Earth's mantle. This suggests that hidden reservoirs of ancient lead could have formed early in Earth's history, and then remained deep in the mantle. There is also a cosmic side to this story as it changes our understanding of the chemistry of planets.