BACKGROUND Hydrogen is known to occur in the groundwaters of some ancient cratons. Where associated gases have been dated, their age extends up to a billion years, and the hydrogen is assumed also to be very old. These observations are interpreted to represent the radiolysis of water and hydration reactions and migration of hydrogen into fracture systems. A hitherto untested implication is that the overwhelming bulk of the ancient low-permeability basement, which is not adjacent to cross-cutting fractures, constitutes a reservoir for hydrogen. RESULTS New data obtained from cold crushing to liberate volatiles from fluid inclusions confirm that granites and gneiss of Archean and Palaeoproterozoic (>1600 Ma) age typically contain an order of magnitude greater hydrogen in their entrained fluid than very young (<200 Ma) granites. Sedimentary rocks containing clasts of old basement also include a greater proportion of hydrogen than the young granites. CONCLUSIONS The data support the case for a global reservoir of hydrogen in both the ancient basement and in the extensive derived sediments. These reservoirs are susceptible to the release of hydrogen through a variety of mechanisms, including deformation, attrition to reduce grain size and diagenetic alteration, thereby contributing to the hydrogen required by chemolithoautotrophs in the deep biosphere.

中文翻译：

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地下室和盆地中的全球氢储层。

背景技术已知氢气存在于一些古代克拉通的地下水中。在已标明伴生气体年代的地方，它们的寿命可以延长到十亿年，并且氢也被认为是非常古老的。这些观察结果被解释为代表水和水合反应的辐射分解以及氢向断裂系统的迁移。迄今未经检验的含意是古代低渗透性地下室的绝大多数（不与横切裂缝相邻）构成了氢的储层。结果从冷压中释放出的流体夹杂物中的挥发物得到的新数据证实，太古代和古元古代（> 1600 Ma）年龄的花岗岩和片麻岩的夹带流体中的氢含量通常比年轻的（<200 Ma）花岗岩大。含有大量旧基底的沉积岩还比年轻花岗岩含有更多比例的氢。结论数据支持在古老的地下室和广泛的衍生沉积物中都存在一个全球性的氢储层。这些储层很容易通过各种机制释放氢，包括变形，减小晶粒尺寸的磨损和成岩作用改变，从而促进了深生物圈中化石自养生物所需的氢。