Carbon-14 activities in recently fallen meteorites and Antarctic meteorites

This paper reports C-14 measurements in meteorites using an extraction method which employs RF melting of samples as small as 0.1 g. A study of extraction of cosmic-ray-produced C-14 in samples of Bruderheim gave C-14 levels between 38 and 60 dpm/kg for samples which had been preheated in air betwee...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jull, A. J. T., Donahue, D. J., Linick, T. W.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: 1989
Subjects:
91
Online Access:http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19890064394
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Summary:This paper reports C-14 measurements in meteorites using an extraction method which employs RF melting of samples as small as 0.1 g. A study of extraction of cosmic-ray-produced C-14 in samples of Bruderheim gave C-14 levels between 38 and 60 dpm/kg for samples which had been preheated in air between 250 and 700 C, with a mean value of 46.8 + or - 1.4 dpm/kg. A range of values between 35 and 59 dpm/kg was found for other falls of saturated meteorites preheated to 500 C. The preheating step is shown to be effective in removing terrestrial carbon contamination. A series of samples previously dated by Kr-81 as having ages of 120-310 kyr gave C-14 levels of between less than 0.16 and 0.37 + or - 0.10 dpm/kg. These levels are consistent with levels of in situ production by cosmic rays at the earth's surface.