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Extinct 244 Pu in Ancient Zircons

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Date

2004

Authors

Turner, Graeme
Harrison, Timothy
Holland, Greg
Mojzsis, Stephen
Gilmour, Jamie

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Abstract

We have found evidence, in the form of fissiogenic xenon isotopes, for in situ decay of 244Pu in individual 4.1- to 4.2-billion-year-old zircons from the Jack Hills region of Western Australia. Because of its short half-life, 82 million years, 244Pu was extinct within 600 million years of Earth's formation. Detrital zircons are the only known relics to have survived from this period, and a study of their Pu geochemistry will allow us to date ancient metamorphic events and determine the terrestrial Pu/U ratio for comparison with the solar ratio.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Fission products; Geochemistry; Geographical regions; Isotopes; Metamorphic rocks; Plutonium compounds; Solar radiation; Metamorphism; Solar ratio; Xenon isotopes; Zircon; isotope; plutonium; xenon; zirconium; lead; silicate; uranium; geochronology; pluto

Citation

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/1885/86255

Collections

ANU Research Publications

Source

Science

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

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DOI

10.1126/science.1101014

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