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Science 9 March 1979:
Vol. 203. no. 4384, pp. 1002 - 1004
DOI: 10.1126/science.203.4384.1002
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Articles

Fixation of Nitrogen in the Prebiotic Atmosphere

Y. L. YUNG 1 and M. B. MCELROY 2

1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125
2 Center for Earth and Planetary Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts-02138

Reactions between nitrogen and water in the air surrounding lightning discharges can provide an important source of nitric oxide even under conditions where oxygen is a minor atmospheric constituent. Estimates are given for the associated source of soluble nitrite and nitrate. It is shown that lightning and subsequent atmospheric chemistry can provide a source of nitrate for the primitive ocean as large as 106 tons of nitrogen per year, sufficient to fill the ocean to its present level of nitrate in less than 106 years.

Submitted on August 4, 1978
Revised on November 13, 1978


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