A paper led by our alumnus Dr. Fukuyama on nitrogen solubility in Fe-bearing bridgmanite has been now published in Chemical Geology.
Nitrogen in the Earth is thought to be depleted relative to CI chondrites, a discrepancy known as the “missing nitrogen” problem. In this study, we conducted high-pressure and high-temperature experiments to investigate how nitrogen is incorporated into bridgmanite, the dominant mineral in Earth’s lower mantle. Our results show that nitrogen solubility increases with increasing iron content. Although bridgmanite in the present lower mantle alone cannot account for the missing nitrogen, the findings suggest that during the solidification of the early Earth’s magma ocean, bridgmanite may have helped retain nitrogen in the deep mantle.
Fukuyama K., Kagi H., Irifune T., Shine T., Inoue Y., Yamamoto J., Villeneuve J., and Füri E. (2026) Nitrogen solubility in Fe-bearing bridgmanite and its implications for nitrogen segregation in Earth's deep magma ocean. Chemical Geology, 699, 123154.