The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust
The geological and biological nitrogen cycles are intimately linked. Nitrogen is an essential element in the structure of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecules vital for life, as well as 78% of the Earths atmosphere and present in significant quantities in all of Earths geologica...
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The University of St Andrews
2023
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27219 https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 |
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27219 2023-07-02T03:32:30+02:00 The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust Boocock, Toby James Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Mikhail, Sami Prytulak, Julie McCarthy, William IAPETUS Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Environmental Isotype Facility (NEIF) University of St Andrews. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences 157 2023-03-20T11:19:35Z application/pdf application/msword http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27219 https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 en eng The University of St Andrews Durham University, IAPETUS DTP http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27219 https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 NE/L002590/1 NEIF – 2313.0920 NE/PO12167/1 NE/V010824/1 NE/R012253/1 2026-03-16 Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 16th March 2026 Nitrogen Igneous Nitrogen isotopes Magmatic differentiation Thesis Doctoral PhD Doctor of Philosophy 2023 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 2023-06-13T18:25:09Z The geological and biological nitrogen cycles are intimately linked. Nitrogen is an essential element in the structure of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecules vital for life, as well as 78% of the Earths atmosphere and present in significant quantities in all of Earths geological reservoirs. Planetary scale processes such as degassing, subduction and differentiation play a key role in generating and supporting a nitrogen rich surface environment suitable for supporting life. However, the fluxes and stores of nitrogen between Earths mantle, crust and atmosphere remain poorly constrained. Constraining the behaviour of nitrogen during these processes is therefore essential. This thesis targets the processing and storage of nitrogen in the Earth’s crust, with a focus on identify fundamental partitioning and isotopic fractionation during magmatic differentiation and assessing what the crustal nitrogen record can inform us about changes in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. Firstly, I utilise two contrasting but well constrained magmatic systems, the aphyric lavas from Hekla volcano, Iceland, and the calc-alkaline Loch Doon zoned pluton, Scotland. These data are to the best of our knowledge the first combined abundance and isotopic ratio measurements for differentiating magmatic suites at a bulk and mineral scale. I show with the Hekla dataset that when undersaturated in a magma, nitrogen behaves more akin to lithophile rather than volatile elements and can be enriched significantly in Earths crust during differentiation. In Loch Doon, at a mineral scale, we find feldspars host 60-90% of the whole rock nitrogen contents in contrast with previous studies suggesting biotite as the main N host phase. Associated with this are significant feldspar-mica isotopic fractionation suggesting magmatic differentiation can impart significant measurable isotopic differences. Secondly, I assess the ability of the plutonic felsic crust to record changes in the terrestrial sedimentary nitrogen cycle through ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Hekla Iceland University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
Nitrogen Igneous Nitrogen isotopes Magmatic differentiation |
spellingShingle |
Nitrogen Igneous Nitrogen isotopes Magmatic differentiation Boocock, Toby James The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
topic_facet |
Nitrogen Igneous Nitrogen isotopes Magmatic differentiation |
description |
The geological and biological nitrogen cycles are intimately linked. Nitrogen is an essential element in the structure of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecules vital for life, as well as 78% of the Earths atmosphere and present in significant quantities in all of Earths geological reservoirs. Planetary scale processes such as degassing, subduction and differentiation play a key role in generating and supporting a nitrogen rich surface environment suitable for supporting life. However, the fluxes and stores of nitrogen between Earths mantle, crust and atmosphere remain poorly constrained. Constraining the behaviour of nitrogen during these processes is therefore essential. This thesis targets the processing and storage of nitrogen in the Earth’s crust, with a focus on identify fundamental partitioning and isotopic fractionation during magmatic differentiation and assessing what the crustal nitrogen record can inform us about changes in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. Firstly, I utilise two contrasting but well constrained magmatic systems, the aphyric lavas from Hekla volcano, Iceland, and the calc-alkaline Loch Doon zoned pluton, Scotland. These data are to the best of our knowledge the first combined abundance and isotopic ratio measurements for differentiating magmatic suites at a bulk and mineral scale. I show with the Hekla dataset that when undersaturated in a magma, nitrogen behaves more akin to lithophile rather than volatile elements and can be enriched significantly in Earths crust during differentiation. In Loch Doon, at a mineral scale, we find feldspars host 60-90% of the whole rock nitrogen contents in contrast with previous studies suggesting biotite as the main N host phase. Associated with this are significant feldspar-mica isotopic fractionation suggesting magmatic differentiation can impart significant measurable isotopic differences. Secondly, I assess the ability of the plutonic felsic crust to record changes in the terrestrial sedimentary nitrogen cycle through ... |
author2 |
Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Mikhail, Sami Prytulak, Julie McCarthy, William IAPETUS Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Environmental Isotype Facility (NEIF) University of St Andrews. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Boocock, Toby James |
author_facet |
Boocock, Toby James |
author_sort |
Boocock, Toby James |
title |
The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
title_short |
The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
title_full |
The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
title_fullStr |
The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
title_full_unstemmed |
The behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of Earths igneous continental crust |
title_sort |
behaviour of nitrogen during differentiation of earths igneous continental crust |
publisher |
The University of St Andrews |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27219 https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 |
op_coverage |
157 |
genre |
Hekla Iceland |
genre_facet |
Hekla Iceland |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27219 https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 NE/L002590/1 NEIF – 2313.0920 NE/PO12167/1 NE/V010824/1 NE/R012253/1 |
op_rights |
2026-03-16 Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 16th March 2026 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/356 |
_version_ |
1770272097942110208 |