Abstract
The normal alpha decay of naturally occurring 244Pu can be expected to have produced pleochroic haloes detectable in existing rocks. Several methods of identifying such haloes are described here. Giant haloes might also be produced by the α particles that occasionally accompany the spontaneous fission of 244Pu. It is plausible to speculate that in ideal circumstances such gaint haloes might be as large as 100 µm, and that the X rays recently induced from central inclusions of giant haloes and identified as L rays of Z = 126 might instead have been K X rays from Te fission fragments.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Podosek, F. A. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 8, 183 (1970).
Podosek, F. A. & Huneke, J. C. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 12, 73 (1971).
Kuroda, P. K. Nature 187, 36 (1960).
Boulos, M. S. & Manuel, O. K. Science 174, 1334 (1971).
Benjamin, T. M., Burnett, D. S. & Seitz, M. G. Geophys. Yb. Carnegie Instn Wash. (in the press).
Gentry, R. V. A. Rev. nucl. Sci. 23, 347 (1973).
Deutsch, S., Kipfer, P. & Picciotto, E. Nuovo Cim. X 6, 797 (1957).
Deutsch, S. & Janssens, P. Nuovo Cim. X 11, 473 (1959).
Picciotto, E. E. & Deutsch, S. in Summer Course on Nuclear Geology, Varenna, 1960, 263–310 (Pisa Laboratorio di Geologia Nucleare, Pisa, 1961).
Gentry, R. V. Science 169, 670 (1970).
Gentry, R. V. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett, 37, 11 (1976).
Hoffman, D. C., Lawrence, F. O., Mewherter, J. L. & Rourke, F. M. Nature 234, 132 (1971).
Heinreich, E. W. Mineralogy and Geology of Radioactive Raw Materials (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958).
Frondel, C. Bull. U.S. geol. Surv. 1064 (1958).
Fields, P. R. et al., Nature 212, 131 (1971).
Vandenbosch, R. & Huizenga, J. R. Nuclear Fission (Academic, New York, 1973).
Raisbeck, G. M. & Thomas, T. D. Phys. Rev. 172, 1272 (1968).
Cosper, S. W., Cerny, J. & Gatti, R. C. Phys. Rev. 154, 1193 (1967).
Krogulski, T. et al., Nucl. Phys. A 128, 219 (1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holbrow, C. Haloes from plutonium minerals and fission alphas?. Nature 265, 504–508 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/265504a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/265504a0
This article is cited by
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.