Does Helium Diffuse Through the Upper Crust

7 Does Helium Diffuse Through the Upper Crust  

Water has a high helium dissolution capacity, and groundwaters in nature contain helium in a concentration range spanning over five orders of magnitude, as seen in Table 14.1. In all these cases the partial helium pressure in the aquifers was orders of magnitude below the hydrostatic pressure, not to mention the lithostatic pressure, ensuring no gas losses took place. 

The water in each aquifer dissolves all the available helium and shields the overlying aquifers from helium fluxes of the type suggested by the crustal helium diffusion model. 

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