The distribution of U and Pu in the St. Severin chondrite

Abstract

A detailed study of the U distribution of the St. Severin chondrite has been made by fission track radiography in order to clarify the interpretation of fission Xe thermal release data in terms of the mineralogical location of the fission Xe within the meteorite. This is of importance because the ^(244)Pu/^(238)U ratio for St. Severin has been widely adopted as the average solar system value. The U contents of the constituent minerals cannot account for the total rock U which, instead, appears to be primarily localized on grain boundaries. The greatest localizations of U are in olivine-poor, orthopyroxene-rich 'clasts'. Our data coupled with those of Podosek (1970a) show that ^(244)Pu in St. Severin was also located on grain boundaries and that the bulk of Pu and U are unfractionated within this meteorite. Due to recoil, the ^(244)Pu fission Xe is found in 10 micron surface layers on major phases. Assuming that the grain boundaries (on which the Pu was located) was formed during metamorphism, the ^(244)Pu/^(238)U ratio for St. Severin applies to a time subsequent to the textural recrystallization of the meteorite. Our data support the interpretation of Podosek and our best estimate of the solar system ^(244)Pu/^(238)U is 0.015.

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