Age of the moon: an isotopic study of uranium-thorium-lead systematics of lunar samples

Concentrations of U, Th, and Pb in Apollo 11 samples studied are low (U. 0.16 to 0.87; Th, 0.53 to 3.4; Pb, 0.29 to 1.7, in ppm) but the extremely radiogenic lead in samples allows radiometric dating. The fine dust and the breccia have a concordant age of 4.66 billion years on the basis of (207)Pb/(206)Pb, (206)Pb/(238)U, (207)Pb/(235U), and(208)Pb/(232)Th ratios. This age is comparable with the age of meteorites and with the age generally accepted for the earth. Six crystalline and vesicular samples are distinctly younger than the dust and breccia. The (238)U/(235)U ratio is the same as that in earth rocks, and (234)U is in radioactive equilibrium with parent (238)U.     

Time differences in the formation of meteorites as determined from the ratio of lead-207 to lead-206

Measurements of the lead isotopic composition and the uranium, thorium, and lead concentrations in meteorites were made in order to obtain more precise radiometric ages of these members of the solar system. The newly determined value of the lead isotopic composition of Canyon Diablo troilite is as follows: (206)Pb/(204)Pb = 9.307, (207)Pb/(2O4)Pb = 10.294, and (208)Pb/(204)Pb = 29.476. The leads of Angra dos Reis, Sioux County, and Nuevo Laredo achondrites are very radiogenic, the (206)Pb/(204)Pb values are about 200, and the uranium-thorium-lead systems are nearly concordant. The ages of the meteorites as calculated from a single-stage (207)Pb/(206)Pb isochron based on the newly determined primordial lead value and the newly reported (235)U and (838)U decay constants, are 4.528 x 10(9) years for Sioux County and Nuevo Laredo and 4.555 x 10(9) years for Angra dos Reis. When calculated with the uranium decay constants used by Patterson, these ages are 4.593 x 10(9) years and 4.620 x 10(9) years, respectively, and are therefore 40 to 70 x 10(6) years older than the 4.55 x 10(9) years age Patterson reported. The age difference of 27 x 10(6) years between Angra dos Reis and the other two meteorites is compatible with the difference between the initial (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio of Angra dos Reis and that of seven basaltic achondrites observed by Papanastassiou and Wasserburg. The time difference is also comparable to that determined by (129)1-(129)Xe chronology. The ages of ordinary chondrites (H5 and L6) range from 4.52 to 4.57 x 10(9) years, and, here too, time differences in the formation of the parent bodies or later metamorphic events are indicated. Carbonaceous chondrites(C2 and C3) appear to contain younger lead components.     

Uranium-thorium-lead isotope relations in lunar materials

The lead isotopic compositions and uranium, thorium, and lead concentrations have been measured on six samples of material from the Sea of Tranquillity. The leads are moderately to very radiogenic; the initial lead concentrations are very low; the uranium and thorium levels are 0.26 to 0.88 and 0.87 to 3.35 parts per million, respectively. The Th/U ratios cluster about a 3.6 value. Apparent ages calculated for four rocks are 4.1 to 4.2 x 10(9) years. Dust and breccia yield apparent ages of 4.60 to 4.63 x 10(9) years. The uranium-lead ages are concordant, or nearly so, in all cases. The lunar surface is an ancient region with an extended record of events in the early history of the solar system. discrepancy between the rock ages and dust ages poses a fundamental qusestion about rock genesis on the moon.     

Rubidium-strontium, uranium, and thorium-lead dating of lunar material

Rubidiuom and stronztiulm concentrations and strontium isotopic compositions have been measutred on whole rock samples and density fractions of microgabbro. Density fractionis on two rocks define isochrons of 3400 and 4500 million years with large uincertainties owing to low enrichment of radiogenic strontium. Lead from fine surface material is highly radiogenic. An age of 4750 million years has been calculated from the ratio of (207)Pb/(206)Pb. The concentrations of uiranium, thorium, and lead isotopes are consistent with the evolution of lead in a 4700-million-year-old closed system characterized by the ratios of uranium to lead and of thoriunm to lead in this sutrface material.     

Lead and thallium isotopes in mare tranquillitatis surface material

Lead from Apollo 11 fines is more radiogenic than any meteoritic lead reported and older than any terrestrial radiogenic lead: (201)Pb/(206)Pb/(207)Pb/(208)Pb = 1/99(.6)/69(.0)117(.1). Comparison with primordial lead from meteoritic troilite yields a 207Pb/ 206Pb age of 4.7 + 0.1 x 10(9) years. The (238)U/(204)Pb ratio is > 90 and the (232)Th/(238)U ratio is 3.9 +/-0.1. The lead conitent is > 1.7 x 10(-6). Evidently Pb was strongly depleted and Th and U strongly enriched in the formation of this material. Thallium was too low (< 5 x 10-9) to yield mass spectra, but indications are favorable for eventual observation of extinct natural radioactivity of (205)Pb.     

Potassium-argon ages of lunar rocks from mare tranquillitatis and oceanus procellarum

Crystalline rocks from Mare Tranquillitatis have yielded potassium-argon dates as old as 3.8 x 10(9) years. Crystalline rocks from Oceanus Procellarum give potassium-argon ages as old as 2.8 x 10(9) years. Evidently the maria are ancient features of the moon and were not formed contemporaneously, a conclusion that also has been verified by other methods. The potassium-argon ages of rocks from Oceanus Procellarum show much more loss of argon than the rocks from Mare Tranquillitatis, an indication that the rocks at Oceanus Procellarum have experienced more severe shock effects or longer cooling rates.     

Age determinations and isotopic abundance measurements on lunar samples

A K-Ar age of 2300 x 10(6) years has been determined for a sample of type A crystalline rock (57,34). The presence of an anomalously large quantity of 4 degrees Ar, in a sample of type C breccia (65,35) precluded the calculation of its K-Ar age. Both of the rock types are characterized by low Rb/Sr ratios and consequently low (87)Sr/(86)Sr values. The U-Th-Pb results for a sample of type D fines (84,33) yield a (207)Pb/(206)Pb age of 4760 x 10(6) years, but ages based on U-Pb and Th-Pb ratios are anomalously high. Isotopic compositions of Li, K, Rb, Sr, U, and Th are very close to the accepted values for terrestrial materials.     

U-Pb isotopic age of the StW 573 hominid from Sterkfontein, South Africa

Sterkfontein cave, South Africa, has yielded an australopith skeleton, StW 573, whose completeness has excited great interest in paleoanthropology. StW 573, or "Little Foot," was found 25 meters below the surface in the Silberberg Grotto. 238U-206Pb measurements on speleothems immediately above and below the fossil remains, corrected for initial 234U disequilibrium, yield ages of 2.17 +/- 0.17 million years ago (Ma) and 2.24(-0.07)(+0.09) Ma, respectively, indicating an age for StW 573 of close to 2.2 Ma. This age is in contrast to an age of approximately 3.3 Ma suggested by magnetochronology and ages of approximately 4 Ma based on 10Be and 26Al, but it is compatible with a faunal age range of 4 to 2 Ma.     

Genetic relations of oceanic basalts as indicated by lead isotopes

The isotopic compositions of lead and the concentrations lead, uranium, and thorium in samples of oceanic tholeiite and alkali suites are determined, and the genetic relations of the oceanic basalts are discussed. Lead of the oceanic tholeiites has a varying lead-206: lead-204 ratio between 17.8 and 18.8, while leads of the alkali basalt suites from Easter Island and Guadalupe Island are very radiogenic with lead-206: lead-204 ratios between 19.3 and 20.4 It is concluded that (i) the isotopic composition of lead in oceanic tholeiite suggests that the upper mantle source region of the tholeiite was differentiated from and original mantle material more than 1 billion years ago and that the upper mantle is not homogeneous at the present time, (ii) less than 20 million years was required for the crystal differentiation within the alkali suite from Easter Island, (iii) no crustal contamination was involved in the course of differentiation of rocks from Easter Island; however, some crustal contamination may have affected Guadalupe Island rocks, and (iv) alkali basalt may be produced from the tholeiite in the oceanic region by crystal differentiation. Alternatively the difference in the isotopic composition of lead in oceanic basalts may be produced by partial melting at different depths of a differentiated upper mantle.     

Argon-lead isotopic correlation in mid-atlantic ridge basalts

Step-heating analyses for Mid-Atlantic Ridge glass samples show that maximum 40Ar/36Ar values correlate with 206,207,208Pb/204Pb. These correlations hold for the whole Atlantic Ocean and therefore are unlikely to result from shallow-level contamination processes. Instead, they are taken as mixing hyperbolae between the degassed-depleted upper mantle and a recycled component characterized by high 206Pb/204Pb ratios (19 to 21) and low 40Ar/36Ar ratios (300 to 1000). These relations imply that argon may also be a tracer of mantle recycling.     

Age and timing of the Permian mass extinctions: U/Pb dating of closed-system zircons

The age and timing of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction have been difficult to determine because zircon populations from the type sections are typically affected by pervasive lead loss and contamination by indistinguishable older xenocrysts. Zircons from nine ash beds within the Shangsi and Meishan sections (China), pretreated by annealing followed by partial attack with hydrofluoric acid, result in suites of consistent and concordant uranium/lead (U/Pb) ages, eliminating the effects of lead loss. The U/Pb age of the main pulse of the extinction is 252.6 +/- 0.2 million years, synchronous with the Siberian flood volcanism, and it occurred within the quoted uncertainty.     

Preliminary examination of lunar samples from apollo 14

The major findings of the preliminary examination of the lunar samples are as follows: 1) The samples from Fra Mauro base may be contrasted with those from Tranquillity base and the Ocean of Storms in that about half the Apollo 11 samples consist of basaltic rocks, and all but three Apollo 12 rocks are basaltic, whereas in the Apollo 14 samples only two rocks of the 33 rocks over 50 grams have basaltic textures. The samples from Fra Mauro base consist largely of fragmental rocks containing clasts of diverse lithologies and histories. Generally the rocks differ modally from earlier lunar samples in that they contain more plagioclase and contain orthopyroxene. 2) The Apollo 14 samples differ chemically from earlier lunar rocks and from their closest meteorite and terrestrial analogs. The lunar material closest in composition is the KREEP component (potassium, rare earth elements, phosphorus), "norite," "mottled gray fragments" (9) from the soil samples (in particular, sample 12033) from the Apollo 12 site, and the dark portion of rock 12013 (10). The Apollo 14 material is richer in titanium, iron, magnesium, and silicon than the Surveyor 7 material, the only lunar highlands material directly analyzed (11). The rocks also differ from the mare basalts, having much lower contents of iron, titanium, manganese, chromium, and scandium and higher contents of silicon, aluminum, zirconium, potassium, uranium, thorium, barium, rubidium, sodium, niobium, lithium, and lanthanum. The ratios of potassium to uranium are lower than those of terrestrial rocks and similar to those of earlier lunar samples. 3) The chemical composition of the soil closely resembles that of the fragmental rocks and the large basaltic rock (sample 14310) except that some elements (potassium, lanthanum, ytterbium, and barium) may be somewhat depleted in the soil with respect to the average rock composition. 4) Rocks display characteristic surface features of lunar material (impact microcraters, rounding) and shock effects similar to those observed in rocks and soil from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. The rocks show no evidence of exposure to water, and their content of metallic iron suggests that they, like the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 material, were formed and have remained in an environment with low oxygen activity. 5) The concentration of solar windimplanted material in the soil is large, as was the case for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 soil. However, unlike previous fragmental rocks, Apollo 14 fragmental rocks possess solar wind contents ranging from approximately that of the soil to essentially zero, with most rocks investigated falling toward one extreme of this range. A positive correlation appears to exist between the solar wind components, carbon, and (20)Ne, of fragmental rocks and their friability (Fig. 12). 6) Carbon contents lie within the range of carbon contents for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 samples. 7) Four fragmental rocks show surface exposure times (10 x 10(6) to 20 x 10(6) years) about an order of magnitude less than typical exposure times of Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 rocks. 8) A much broader range of soil mechanics properties was encountered at the Apollo 14 site than has been observed at the Apollo 11, Apollo 12, and Surveyor landing sites. At different points along the traverses of the Apollo 14 mission, lesser cohesion, coarser grain size, and greater resistance to penetration was found than at the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 sites. These variations are indicative of a very complex, heterogeneous deposit. The soils are more poorly sorted, but the range of grain size is similar to those of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 soils. 9) No evidence of biological material has been found in the samples to date.     

Mass-Spectrometric 230Th-234U-238U Dating of the Devils Hole Calcite Vein

The Devils Hole calcite vein contains a long-term climatic record, but requires accurate chronologic control for its interpretation. Mass-spectrometric U-series ages for samples from core DH-11 yielded (230)Th ages with precisions ranging from less than 1,000 years (2sigma) for samples younger than approximately 140 ka (thousands of years ago) to less than 50,000 years for the oldest samples ( approximately 566 ka). The (234)U/(238)U ages could be determined to a precision of approximately 20,000 years for all ages. Calcite accumulated continuously from 566 ka until approximately 60 ka at an average rate of 0.7 millimeter per 10(3) years. The precise agreement between replicte analyses and the concordance of the (230)Th/(238)U (234)U/(238)U ages for the oldest samples indicate that the DH-11 samples were closed systems and validate the dating technique in general.     

Ages of crystalline rocks from fra mauro

Crystallization ages for six rocks from Fra Mauro have been measured by the argon-40-argon-39 method. All six rocks give an age of 3.77 +/- 0.15 x 10(9) years, which is the same as for fragmental rocks from this site. It is concluded that the Imbrium event and the crystallization of a significant portion of the pre-Imbrian basalts were essentially contemporaneous.     

Early Proterozoic ultrahigh pressure metamorphism: evidence from microdiamonds

Microdiamonds from the Akluilak minette dykes (Nunavut, Canada) are similar to diamonds formed in subducted metamorphic rocks. High concentrations of unaggregated nitrogen and positive delta(15)N suggest that the microdiamonds formed within rocks subducted to ultrahigh pressures before being sampled by the minette magma 1.8 billion years ago. This ultrahigh pressure metamorphism in North America, probably related to the Trans-Hudson orogen (about 2 billion years ago), extends the occurrence of ultrahigh pressure metamorphism from 0.6 billion years to before 1.8 billion years ago and suggests that Phanerozoic-type subductions were active by the Early Proterozoic.     

Geochronology: New techniques provide knowledge of the time and mode of formation and subsequent evolution of rock systems

In summary, it now seems possible to obtain accurate ages for many of the common rock types. When rocks have been affected by metamorphic episodes after the time of crystallization, it is possible to recognize this from the age values and, in some cases, to date both the time of crystallization and the time of metamorphism. Work is under way that will make it possible to draw accurate geochronological maps of the continents. An impressive regularity is already evident in the map for North America. Knowledge of the temporal and areal distribution of ages should have an important bearing on theories of the origin of continents and of mountain-building processes (50).     

延边朝鲜族自治州市售稻米Pb· Cd含量及其健康风险

[目的]评价吉林省延边朝鲜族自治州市售稻米Pb、Cd含量及其对人体健康的影响,探讨当地居民食用稻米安全性。[方法]在延边州8个市随机购买80份粳稻精米,采用石墨炉原子吸收法(GF-AAS)测定稻米样品中的Pb和Cd含量,并以食品中重金属Pb、Cd每月可耐受摄入量(PTMI)为标准,运用暴露模型进行健康风险评价。[结果]延边州稻米中重金属Pb、Cd含量平均值分别为0.13和0.04 mg/kg,有10%的稻米样品重金属Pb含量超过《食品安全国家标准-食品中污染物限量》(GB2762—2012)限值。延边州敦化、安图、和龙、龙井、图们5市市售稻米中存在一定比例的重金属Pb污染。延边州市售稻米样品中Pb、Cd的HQ值均小于1,表明此次所检测的延边州市售稻米样品对居民没有健康风险。[结论]延边州市售部分稻米已出现重金属Pb污染,未出现重金属Cd污染,延边州居民通过稻米摄入的重金属Pb、Cd不会对其健康构成明显危害。     

独角雪冰鱼和伯氏肩孔南极鱼骨骼中的元素分析

为探究缺失血红蛋白的南极独角雪冰鱼Chionodraco hamatus(CH)和具有血红蛋白的伯氏肩孔南极鱼Trematomus bernacchii(TB)骨骼中元素含量的差异,采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法对两种南极鱼的脊椎骨与头盖骨中Na、Mg、Al、K、Ca、56Fe、Zn等常量元素,以及V、Cr、Mn、As、Se、206Pb等微量元素含量进行了测定与分析。结果表明:两种南极鱼脊椎骨中Al、K、56Fe、Mn、Se含量有显著性差异(P0.05),头盖骨中Mg、K、Ca、56Fe、V、Mn等元素含量有显著性差异(P0.05),推测此差异可能与南极冰鱼缺失功能性血红细胞有关;将两种南极鱼脊椎骨骨骼中的元素含量与7种非南极海水鱼和3种淡水鱼相比,发现两种南极鱼骨骼中K、Na、Mg、56Fe、Zn、Ca等常量元素含量较少,且Mn、V、Cr、206Pb等微量元素含量明显低于非南极鱼,这可能与南极海域存在较低污染相关。本研究中首次测定了两种南极鱼骨骼中的元素含量,为后续拟通过体内组织元素分析探索南极鱼类的生理差异提供了科学依据。     

Trapped solar wind noble gases, kr81/kr exposure ages and k/ar ages in apollo 11 lunar material

Grain size and etching experiments show that the fine lunar material contains large amounts of trapped solar wind particles. Elemental and isotopic compositions of the noble gases in solar material and in the terrestrial atmosphere are significantly different, except for the Ar(36)/ Ar(38) and the Kr isotope ratios. Exposure ages of two rocks and of the fine material are between 380 and 510 x 10(6) years. Feldspar concentrates give K/Ar ages of 3220 and 3300 x 10(6) years, significantly higher than the unseparated rock.     

Ventilation of the glacial deep Pacific Ocean

Measurements of the age difference between coexisting benthic and planktic foraminifera from western equatorial Pacific deep-sea cores suggest that during peak glacial time the radiocarbon age of water at 2-kilometers depth was no greater than that of today. These results make unlikely suggestions that a slowdown in deep-ocean ventilation was responsible for a sizable fraction of the increase of the ratio of carbon-14 (14C) to carbon in the atmosphere and surface ocean during glacial time. Comparison of 14C ages for coexisting wood and planktic foraminifera from the same site suggests that the atmosphere to surface ocean 14C to C ratio difference was not substantially different from today's.