Origin of spherule samples recovered from antarctic ice sheet-Terrestrial or extraterrestrial?
- 1. Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Osaka (Japan)
- 2. College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University, Tokyo (Japan)
- 3. Dept. of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo (Japan)
Description
Thirty-eight spherules from the Antarctic ice sheet were analyzed using neutron activation analysis under two different conditions to investigate their origin. In almost all of these spherules, the contents of iron, cobalt, and manganese were determined to be 31% to 88%, 17 mg/kg to 810 mg/kg, and 0.017% to 7%, respectively. A detectable iridium content of 0.84 mg/kg was found in only one spherule, which was judged to be extraterrestrial in origin. A comparison of elemental compositions of the Antarctic spherules analyzed in this study with those of deep-sea sediment spherules and those of terrestrial materials revealed that most of the Antarctic spherules except for the sample in which iridium was detected could not be identified as extraterrestrial in origin
Additional details
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Nuclear Engineering and Technology
- Journal Volume
- 48
- Journal Issue
- 2
- Series
- 15 refs, 2 figs, 2 tabs
- Journal Page Range
- p. 293-298
- ISSN
- 1738-5733
INIS
- Country of Publication
- Korea, Republic of
- Country of Input or Organization
- Korea, Republic of
- INIS RN
- 47086648
- Subject category
- S37: INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY;
- Descriptors DEI
- ANTARCTIC REGIONS; DETECTION; ICES PROGRAM; IRIDIUM; NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
- Descriptors DEC
- ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; CRYOSPHERE; ELEMENTS; ENERGY SYSTEMS; METALS; NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS; PLATINUM METALS; POLAR REGIONS; REFRACTORY METALS; TRANSITION ELEMENTS