Origen Del Nitrato

Massive volcanism at the Altiplano-Puna Plateau and formation of the huge Atacama Desert
nitrate deposits: a case for thermal and electric fixation of atmospheric nitrogen
Vulcanismo masivo en elplateau altiplánico y formación de los grandes depósitos de nitrato
en el Desierto de Atacama: un caso de fijación térmica y eléctrica de nitrato atmosférico
Jorge Oyarzun (1) & Roberto Oyarzun (2)(1): Departamento de Minas, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de la Serena, & CEAZA, Chile.
(2): Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de CC Geológicas, Universidad Complutense,España.
English:
Español:
The origin of the giant nitrate deposits of the Atacama Desert
(Chile) has been a controversial issue. At a global scale, the Atacama
Desert nitrates constitute a raresingularity because no equivalent deposits
are found anywhere else.
Previous hypotheses for origin of the Chilean nitrates have failed to
recognize the importance of the 70,000 km large Late Mioceneto present
Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Plateau (APVP), only 50-200 km eastward from the
nitrate deposits.
We argue that the extrusion of a volume of over 10 km of pyroclastic rocks
at the APVP may havecreated the potential conditions to induce thermal
and electric fixation of an estimate of 2,800 Mt of atmospheric nitrogen in
the form of NO .
This figure exceeds the amount of nitrogen requiredto account for the
Atacama Desert nitrate deposits. Thus, the origin of the nitrate deposits may
be found in an unusual combination of hyper arid conditions (vital for the
final stabilization andpreservation of the NaNO mineral phase) and
massive volcanism (key to fix large amounts of atmospheric nitrogen).
Volcanic eruptions have far more environmental implications than they are
usuallygranted, decisively contributing to the global cycles of many
chemical elements and compounds.
For example, nitrogen fixation by volcanic activity could also explain the
current excess of NOx...