Total amounts of major and minor volatile elements (H2O, C, S, N, F, Cl, Br, 3He, 36Ar, 40Ar, and 20Ne) degassed from the mantle throughout the Earth's history are estimated based on the present-day mantle degassing rates and on the results of the 40Ar degassing model coupled with models of thermal evolution of the mantle and magma generation at midocean ridges. Relative contribution of continuous degassing due to volcanism throughout the Earth's history to the abundance of each volatile element in the surface reservoirs at present are obtained. The results suggest that, although both early and continuous degassing processes (and/or a late accretionary veneer) might have influenced all these volatile histories, contribution of each process seems to be very different for each volatile, probably because of differences in solubility into silicate melt, partition coefficient between liquid and solid phases, and efficiency of recycling into the mantle. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union