Down to #Earth: Where has the Earth’s missing #lead gone? That’s an age-old mystery that has stumped geoscientists. But new research led by #NTUsg may have finally provided new insights. By exploring how lead behaves under the crushing pressures of Earth’s interior, they found that the solution to one of our planet’s oldest chemical secrets could in fact be hiding beneath our feet in the planet’s mantle layer. The researchers used computer simulations to show that a compound called lead sulphide becomes extraordinarily stable under extreme pressures, which are conditions that can be found deep in the Earth’s mantle. The finding suggests that hidden reservoirs of ancient lead could have formed early in Earth’s history, and then remained deep in the mantle. There are also cosmic implications as the study changes our understanding of the chemistry of planets. ntu.sg/rc-Lead #NTUsgResearch #Geochemistry #Geochronology #EarthSciences @ScienceNTU @ntu_ase @Sim0nRedfern