Leakage of helium from the Pannonian basin
Abstract
THE aquifer system of the Great Hungarian Plain covers 50,000 km2 and contains helium with an isotopic composition that indicates regional loss of both radiogenic-crustal and mantle-derived helium. Mantle-derived melts must be present at depth over much of the region. Here we show that the mantle helium flux through the basin may be supported by the addition of 20 m of melt per Myr. Considerations of hydrogeology and helium abundances show that the rate of loss of radiogenic helium from the basin may exceed the crustal helium production rate.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- December 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1038/342908a0
- Bibcode:
- 1989Natur.342..908M