Publication Laka-library:
Nuclear Geochemistry (1994)
| Author | Titayeva |
| Date | 1994 |
| Classification | 6.01.2.10/31 (TECHNICAL - GENERAL INFORMATION) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
INTRODUCTION What Does Nuclear Geochemistry Study? Nuclear geochemistry studies radionuclides and their related nuclear processes in the Earth. The Earth contains a host of radionuclides with a diverse genesis: primary natural radionuclides and their decay products, cosmogenic radionuclides, and radionuclides of anthropogenic origin. The specific properties of radionuclides make it possible for them to be used as tracers and geochronometers of various processes: from nucleosynthesis, the evolution of the crust-mantle system to current processes in the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere and on the surface of the lithosphere. The properties of radionuclides of interest for the Earth sciences are: 1. Spontaneous decay at a constant rate characteristic of each group of radioactive atoms with the same value of A and Z. Atoms of this kind are called nuclides. Moreover, the amount of primary radioactive nuclide (or radionuclide), called the parent variety, steadily decreases. At the same time, in place of each decayed atom there appears a new one, which is called the daughter nuclide. This may be radioactive and disintegrate to a subsequent nuclide at a characteristic rate. Either a single act of decay, or a chain of disintegrating atoms, always ends in a stable nuclide. Thus, the decay of radioactive atoms is always accompanied by an accumulation of stable decay products. Since this process takes place at a constant rate, it becomes possible to determine the time that has passed since the parent nuclides entered the geological object by the decrease in the number of parent atoms or by the accumulation of daughter ones. This time is called the isotope or radiological age. Although sometimes it is impossible to obtain any genuine information on the age, the distribution of nuclides enables us to estimate the rate of a geological process.
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