That's all set to change, however, with the discovery of what researchers called a "world-class" helium gas field in Tanzania's East African Rift Valley. "Within the Tanzanian East African Rift Valley, volcanoes have released helium from ancient deep rocks and have trapped this helium in shallower gas fields." For years, there have been global shortages of the element -- Tokyo Disneyland was once forced to suspend sales of its helium balloons. "To put this discovery into perspective, global consumption of helium is about 8 billion cubic feet (BCf) per year and the United States Federal Helium Reserve, which is the world's largest supplier, has a current reserve of just 24.2 BCf," said University of Oxford's Chris Ballentine, a professor with the Department of Earth Sciences. A group of researchers from Oxford and Durham universities, working with the Norwegian helium exploration company Helium One, have discovered what they believe is a vast supply of the element in an unlikely place.

Source: CNN June 28, 2016 13:30 UTC