EARTH AS PRIMORDIALLY HYDROGEN-RICH PLANET: HYPOTHESIS AND REALITY

Abstract

The article is focused on the role of natural hydrogen in the Earth geodynamics and energy potential. With a proper consideration of the physical parameters of the Earth’s core and mantle, we discuss the aspects of the Hydridic Earth (or Primordially Hydrogen-Rich Planet) theory, which is currently used as a fundamental hypothesis in modern projects aimed at hydrogen energetics.A probability of finding natural hydrogen deposits in sedimentary traps is estimated. It is shown that the volume of deep degassing of hydrogen can be calculated from various cosmological, petrophysical and geochemical data, and an average volume is two orders of magnitude less than the amount predicted by the Hydridic Earth hypothesis. This hypothesis gives grounds to conclude that the major part of Earth’s mantle is a metal sphere; however, this conclusion is not supported by the geological and geophysical data.