The atmosphere is no longer the Earth's only source of nitrogen, according to an environmental study released Friday. The research showed that 26 per cent of nitrogen for plant growth comes from bedrock.

For centuries, it was believed that nitrogen was only found in the atmosphere.

The study cost $1,404,697 and was paid for by the National Science Foundation (NSF), a federal agency. The research began Sept. 1st, 2014.

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1150246&HistoricalAwards=false

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=244968&org=NSF&from=news

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education in science and engineering. Its budget is $7.8 billion. It approves 12,000 grants a year to 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions.

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1411368&HistoricalAwards=false

The research report is called, "Convergent evidence for widespread rock nitrogen sources in Earth’s surface". It was published Friday in the journal called Science.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6384/58/tab-article-info

It was written by Ben Houlton, Randy Dahlgren, and Scott Morford. They work for the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA.

Houton is pictured at the top of this post. Dahlgren and Morford are pictured below.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6384/58

“These results are going to require rewriting the textbooks,” said Kendra McLauchlan, program director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology. The atmosphere is no longer the Earth's only source of nitrogen, she said.

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=244968&org=NSF&from=news