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Ancient giant eruptions may have seeded nitrogen needed for life

Lightning rips nitrogen in the air apart, allowing it to react with oxygen and other elements

A lightning bolt piercing smoke and lava from a volcanic eruption

Volcanic eruptions can generate lots of lightning. Those strikes split nitrogen molecules in the air, allowing nitrogen atoms to react with other elements to make compounds that living organisms can use.

MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images

By Bas den Hond

Millions of years ago, giant volcanic eruptions in what’s now Turkey and Peru each deposited millions of metric tons of nitrate on the surrounding land.