Flow rates and reaction rates in the Galapagos Rise spreading center hydrothermal system as inferred from Ra/Ra in vesicomyid clam shells.

The (228)Ra/(226)Ra ratios in a previously dated vesicomyid clam shell were used to determine that seawater was in contact with mid-oceanic-ridge basalt glass for 22-45 years prior to arrival to the surface at 350 degrees C at the Galapagos Rise Spreading Center. The minimum rate of reaction for the 45-year sojourn time, based on a water/rock ratio of 2.8 derived from (226)Ra concentrations, is 8 g of basalt altered per kg of seawater per year.

Estimation of continental Os/Os values by using Os/Os and Nd/Nd ratios in marine manganese nodules.

The relationship between (187)Os/(186)Os and (143)Nd/(144)Nd in different manganese nodule fields is used to determine the (187)Os/(186)Os ratio of the continental terrains bounding the major ocean basins. The Atlantic Ocean drainages yield (187)Os/(186)Os of about 11; the Pacific Ocean, between 25 and 36; and the western Indian Ocean, 20. By assuming a two-component continental crust composed of "ultramafic rocks" (high Os concentration, low (187)Os/(186)Os) and "granite" with only radiogenic (187)Os produced in accessory Re-bearing molybdenite, the ultramafic contribution to weathering is about 0.2%. Some or most of this may come from the alteration of oceanic ultramafics.

Osmium-187/osmium-186 in manganese nodules and the cretaceous-tertiary boundary.

As a result of the radioactive decay of rhenium-187 (4.6 x 10(10) years) the osmium-187/osmium-186 ratio changes in planetary systems as a function of time and the rhenium-187/osmium-186 ratio. For a value of the rhenium-187/osmium-186 ratio of about 3.2, typical of meteorites and the earth's mantle, the present-day osmium-187/osmium-186 ratio is about 1. The earth's continental crust has an estimated rhenium-187/osmium-186 ratio of about 400, so that for a mean age of the continent of 2 x 10(9) years, a present-day osmium-187/osmium-186 ratio of about 10 is expected. Marine manganese nodules show values (6 to 8.4) compatible with this expectation if allowance for a 25 percent mantle osmium supply to the oceans is allowed. The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary iridium-rich layer in the marine section at Stevns Klint, Denmark, yields an osmium-187/osmium-186 ratio of 1.65, and the one in a continental section in the Raton Basin, Colorado, is 1.29. The simplest explanation is that these represent osmium imprints of predominantly meteoritic origin.

Growth rate of a vesicomyid clam from the galapagos spreading center.

The shell of a 19-centimeter-long vesicomyid clam, collected live at the Galápagos spreading center hydrothermal field, was sampled along growth lines and analyzed for members of the (238)U and (232)Th decay series. The growth rate, determined from the (210)Po/(210)Pb and (228)Th/(228)Ra couples, is about 4 centimeters per year along the axis of maximum growth, which is 12 centimeters long. This yields an age of 3 to 4 years for this clam.

Slow growth rate of a deep-sea clam determined by 228Ra chronology.

The age of a deep-sea clam, Tindaria callistiformis, from 3803 m depth has been determined by 228Ra (6.7 year half-life) chronology of separated size fractions of a captured population. A length of 8.4 mm is attained in about 100 years. Shells of this size fraction show about 100 regularly spaced bands, indicating that the growth feature may be an annual one.

Neutron activation analysis of milligram quantifies of lunar rocks and soils.

A neuttron activation scheme for determining 25 elements in lunar samples weighing 20 milligrams is described and applied to a suite of Apollo 11 lunar materials. Concentrations of titanium, chromium, scandium, tantalum, hafnium, and rare earths are higher than in avercage basalt, whereas cobalt, nickel, and copper are lower. Chemical variations show groupings of elements possibly associated with the major phases, pyroxene, plagioclase, and ilmenite. The high concentration of "refractory oxides" and low volatile content implies that the raw material for the Apollo 11 samples was condensed from the primitive solar nebula at high temperatures.

Strontium isotopes in deep-sea sediments.

Recent deep-sea sediments, leached of carbonate, have Sr(87) Sr(86) ratios ranging from 0.7044 to 0.7394. Strontium in the detrital sediment has not equilibrated isotopically with seawater strontium. Amounts of strontium-bearing authigenic material in the clay-mineral assemblage are not great enough to mask strontium-isotope ratios inherited from source areas.