Search

LORD RAYLEIGH1reported an excess of neon (over argon) in pumice from the Lipari Islands. Dymond and Hogan2have reported excesses of neon in mid-oceanic tholeitic basalts and have suggested that they indicate primordial neon. As the search for primordial gases in terrestrial rocks has an important bearing on our understanding of the formation and thermal history of the Earth, we decided to look at the isotopic composition of the neon in pumice from the Lipari Islands. We collected fresh specimens from the largest quarry on the islands and extracted the included gases by crushing in a vacuum line and by stepwise heating. The five noble gases were measured in a mass spectrometer.