Terrestrial age dating of antarctic meteorites

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Antarct. J. U.S.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6387848

Evans, J C ^[1]; Reeves, J H; Rancitelli, L A

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1. Battelle Northwest Lab., Richland, WA

During the last three antarctic field seasons, US and Japanese teams have collected several thousand meteorites. The terrestrial age of these objects is of interest because such knowledge enables the setting of lower bounds on the lower age of the ice sheet, provides information about ice movement, and aids understanding of the accumulation mechanism of the meteorites. Terrestrial ages can be established by measuring the decay of radioactive species produced by bombardment of cosmic rays while the objects are in space. After entering the Earth's atmosphere the meteorites essentially are completely shielded from cosmic rays. The radioactive products that exist at saturation values in space then decay exponentially toward zero activity. By the end of 1980, data will be established on 150 to 200 selected samples. With that large a data base we should have a fairly clear picture of the terrestrial age distribution of antarctic meteorites.

• OSTI ID: 6387848
• Journal Information: Antarct. J. U.S.; (United States), Journal Name: Antarct. J. U.S.; (United States) Vol. 15:5; ISSN AJUSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510100 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
580100* -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
AGE ESTIMATION
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM 26
ALUMINIUM ISOTOPES
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
ANTARCTICA
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHLORINE 36
CHLORINE ISOTOPES
DETECTION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
GAMMA SOURCES
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ICE
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANGANESE 53
MANGANESE ISOTOPES
MEASURING METHODS
METEORITES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PHOSPHORS
POLAR REGIONS
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIOISOTOPES
SAMPLING
SECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM IODIDES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES