Radiochemical-neutron activation analysis studies of biological samples in connection with marine production of petroleum and instrumental neutron activation analysis of sedimentary rocks related to uranium exploration

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6014318

De Lancey, K

In connection with a baseline study of the Southern California Outer Continental Shelf area prior to offshore oil drilling, a pre-irradiation separation neutron activation analysis method has been developed and tested for the determination of vanadium in marine biological and sediment samples. This method involves the pre-irradiation of hydrated antimony pentoxide and the measurement of the induced 3.75-minute /sup 52/V activity with a Ge(Li) ..gamma..-ray spectrometer. A radiochemical procedure for the determination of barium, involving the separation of 82.9-min /sup 139/Ba, has also been developed and tested. Furthermore, this method for Ba has been extended in order to determine additional elements, including Sr, Cu, and Zn. The V and Ba procedure developed were then used by Science Applications, Inc. on over 1000 marine samples, as part of a Bureau of Land Management baseline study. An optimized procedure for the instrumental neutron activation analysis for 23 specified elements in some 500 sedimentary rock samples has been developed and then applied, in connection with a project to establish models for uranium mineralization. A delayed-neutron system has been constructed and used to measure uranium and thorium in a representative fraction of the samples. Basic statistical methods have been applied to the data, including calculation of the degree of correlation between uranium and all other elements.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Irvine (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6014318
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900 -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
050200 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Exploration-- (-1987)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400101* -- Activation
Nuclear Reaction
Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures
ACTINIDES
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
BARYON REACTIONS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
ELEMENTS
HADRON REACTIONS
MARINE SURVEYS
METALS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTS
SURVEYS
THORIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
URANIUM
VANADIUM