Dating technique tested
An analytical technique for dating ground water and polar ice up to a million years old has been successfully tested by scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The system, known as a rare gas atom counter, extends the capabilities of resonance ionization mass spectrometry to include counting single atoms of krypton-81. The counter is composed of a pulsed dye laser operated in tandem with a mass spectrometer to separate the various isotopes of krypton. In a collaborative study, ORNL scientists recently used the method for the first time to count krypton-81 in a liter of ground water removed from a sandstone aquifer near Zurich. Fewer than 1000 krypton-81 atoms were isolated from the ground water samples. According to Bernard Lehman, a collaborating geochemist at the University of Bern, this first test proved that counting the small numbers of krypton-81 atoms necessary to make an estimate of the age of water could actually be done. Among the applications of this method, Lehman says, could be improved siting of locations for the disposal of radioactive wastes.
- OSTI ID:
- 5404196
- Journal Information:
- Anal. Chem.; (United States), Journal Name: Anal. Chem.; (United States) Vol. 57:4; ISSN ANCHA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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AGE ESTIMATION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DYE LASERS
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ICE
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
KRYPTON 81
KRYPTON ISOTOPES
LASERS
LIQUID LASERS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLAR REGIONS
PULSES
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIOISOTOPES
RESONANCE IONIZATION MASS SPECTROSCOPY
SECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
SPECTROSCOPY
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES