\u200bThe old tales may be true: There\u00a0is\u00a0brimstone in the underworld, and lots of it. Brimstone, the biblical name for sulfur, is often found near hot springs and volcanic fissures on Earth\u2019s surface (above). But scientists studying the formation of Earth\u2019s core have shown that the lightweight nonmetal might also be present there in vast quantities, answering a question that has long troubled earth scientists: How could Earth\u2019s core\u2014predominantly made of the heavy elements iron and nickel\u2014appear as light as it does when analyzed using seismic waves?\u00a0Researchers report online today and in the July issue of\u00a0Geochemical Perspectives Letters\u00a0that\u00a0the answer may be sulfur trapped deep within Earth.\u00a0To come up with their results, the team compared the proportions of copper isotopes in ancient meteorites\u2014the presumed building blocks of our planet\u2014with the proportions of copper isotopes in rocks originating from the mantle\u2014the deep layer of viscous rock beneath Earth\u2019s crust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-416978","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n