Abstract
RADIOACTIVE decay of 238U, 235U and 232Th yields 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb, respectively, as daughter products. This radiogenic lead is continually added to common lead in the source environments of ore deposits and the lead isotopic ratios of the resulting mixture are consequently time dependent. Because the relative proportions of these lead isotopes are fixed when the lead, common and radiogenic together, is separated from the parental uranium and thorium and incorporated into a lead deposit, determination of the isotope ratios provides evidence regarding the age of the lead ore and thus indirectly of the rock in which the ore is contained. Generally speaking, the older the ore the less radiogenic will be its lead. We report here analyses of extremely primitive lead from a small lead-bearing deposit in Western Australia.
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SANGSTER, D., BROOK, W. Primitive lead in an Australian Zn–Pb–Ba deposit. Nature 270, 423 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270423a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270423a0
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