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Geological nitrogen cycle and atmospheric N₂ over Phanerozoic time

¹ Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109, USA

Using the average nitrogen/carbon ratio (N/C) of sedimentary organic matter, coal, and volcanic/metamorphic gases, existing models of the carbon cycle have been used to calculate the fluxes of nitrogen to and from the atmosphere via the weathering, burial, and metamorphic/volcanic decomposition of organic matter. Results indicate no appreciable change, less than one percent of that present, in the mass of atmospheric N₂ over Phanerozoic time. This is in sharp contrast to atmospheric O₂, which shows notable variations. Variation of the mass of O₂, but not that of N₂, must have led to variation in total atmospheric pressure with time. Results are not altered by considering N/C ratios ten times higher than the average for sedimentary rocks nor by considering nitrogen release from silicate weathering. The residence time of N₂ in the atmosphere, relative to exchange with and storage in crustal rocks, is estimated to be about one billion years.

Key Words: atmospheric N₂ • atmospheric pressure • nitrogen cycle • Phanerozoic

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