Terrestrial Age of Nineteen Stony Meteorites derived from their Radiocarbon Content

Details Terrestrial Age of Nineteen Stony Meteorites derived from their Radiocarbon Content Terrestrial Age of Nineteen Stony Meteorites derived from their Radiocarbon Content

Mar 1972

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1972natur.236...25b&link_type=abstract

Nature, Volume 236, Issue 5340, pp. 25-26 (1972).

Physics

6

Scientific paper

THE effects of cosmic radiation on meteorites have been studied thoroughly during the past 15 yr1,2. 14C is chiefly produced by three nuclear reactions: 14N(n,p)14C, 16O(p,3p)14C and 16O(n,2pn)14C. The first reaction occurs in the Earth's atmosphere3-4 and provides the basis for the well known radiocarbon dating method. The 14N(n,p)14C reaction has its largest cross-sections (σ=1.7 bar) in the thermal neutron energy region. The 16O spallation reactions (σ=2 mbar) require energies above 10 MeV. The air mass of 1 kg cm-2 above the surface of the Earth dissipates most of the energy of the primary cosmic rays. Therefore, 14C production in rocks on the Earth's surface is negligible. The surface of an object in space, however, is exposed to the full flux of the primary cosmic radiation. Meteorites, therefore, contain a measurable amount of high-energy spallation products. Meteorites contain very little nitrogen, and hence the 14C production is dominated by 16O spallation. The equilibrium 14C activity in stony meteorites per unit weight has a different value from that of the terrestrial atmosphere. The approximate average values for the 14C production rate are 120 14C atoms min-1 cm2 at the Earth's surface (containing 1 kg of air) and 60 14C atoms min-1 kg of meteorite5.

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