Noble gas abundance patterns in deep-sea basalts — Primordial gases from the mantle

Rapidly cooled portions of eleven samples of mid-ocean ridge tholeiitic basalt pillows have noble gas abundance patterns which resemble the solar rare gas pattern rather than the noble gas pattern of the terrestrial atmosphere. We conclude that these samples contain primordial noble gases. In contrast, holocrystalline samples and a sample from the interior of a basalt pillow have noble gas abundance patterns which resemble the sea water pattern. Whereas the quenched glossy margins of basalt pillows record a non-atmospheric gas reservoir, these slowly cooled samples apparently have undergone exchange of their noble gases with those dissolved in sea water.