The Earth’s core is leaking. This was announced by the scientists behind a new study published in the journal Nature. Ancient lava flows from Baffin Island, a large land mass in the Canadian Arctic archipelago, contain the highest ratios of helium-3, helium-4 and a third isotope that scientists have found in Earth’s volcanic rocks, researchers say.

Researchers believe that the lava flows may have come from the Earth’s core, suggesting that there is a leak in the Earth’s core that allows these lavas to seep to the planet’s surface. What this might mean for the core is unclear, since we know nothing about our planet’s core other than its existence.

So how did they reach this conclusion? It all starts with helium-3. This rare isotope is considered an ultra-rare element; Most of the helium-3 in the universe originates from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. Some of this helium-3 was trapped in the Earth’s core during Earth’s formation. Recently, we’ve seen a lot of hype about the discovery of helium-3 in moon crystals due to the extreme rarity of this isotope.

Now that levels of helium-3 can be seen in the lava flows the researchers studied, it makes sense to conclude that the flows are coming from deep within the Earth’s core. It is also suggested that small amounts of helium-3 and other rare elements may escape from the core and travel to the Earth’s surface, but the finer details remain somewhat of a mystery.

It’s not news that Baffin Island rocks contain helium-3. Scientists have known this for a while. But the researchers behind this new study wanted to expand what we know and determine how much higher these levels are than others. They found that the levels were much higher than previously reported, which only raises the possibility of a leak in the Earth’s core.

Fortunately, this leak does not seem dangerous, at least for now. Researchers say there are not enough helium-3 atoms in the rocks to be dangerous, and since it is a noble gas, it does not chemically react with other elements. Additionally, since the area where the lava flows reach Baffin Island is extremely remote, the risk of exposure to humans is not very high. Unless, of course, people want to visit the island in person. Source