2004/09/30 by G. Turner, T. Mark Harrison, Greg Holland +2 · 3 citations
Chemistry · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Materials Science · #Ancient history #Archaeology #Art #Astrophysics #Billion years #Geochemistry #Geography #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Hadean #History #Isotope #Isotopes of xenon #Metamorphic rock #Nuclear materials and radiation effects #Nuclear physics #Paleontology #Period (music) #Physics #Radioactive contamination and transfer #Radioactive element chemistry and processing #Zircon
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1101014
openalex publication_date 2004/10/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
We have found evidence, in the form of fissiogenic xenon isotopes, for in situ decay of 244Pu in individual 4.1- to 4.2-billion-year-old zircons from the Jack Hills region of Western Australia. Because of its short half-life, 82 million years, 244Pu was extinct within 600 million years of Earth's formation. Detrital zircons are the only known relics to have survived from this period, and a study of their Pu geochemistry will allow us to date ancient metamorphic events and determine the terrestrial Pu/U ratio for comparison with the solar ratio.