Published January 31, 1964
| public
Journal Article
Relative Contributions of Uranium, Thorium, and Potassium to Heat Production in the Earth
Abstract
Data from a wide variety of igneous rock types show that the ratio of potassium to uranium is approximately 1 X 10^4. This suggests that the value of K/U ≈1 X 10^4 is characteristic of terrestrial materials and is distinct from the value of 8 X 10^4 found in chondrites. In a model earth with K/U ≈ 10^4, uranium and thorium are the dominant sources of radioactive heat at the present time. This will permit the average terrestrial concentrations of uranium and thorium to be 2 to 4.7 times higher than that observed in chondrites. The resulting models of the terrestrial heat production will be considerably different from those for chondritic heat production because of the longer half-life of U^(238) and Th^(238) compared with K^(40).
Additional Information
© 1964 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 18 December 1963. Supported by grants from the Atomic Energy Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 62734
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.143.3605.465
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151209-100330788
- Atomic Energy Commission
- NASA
- NSF
- Office of Naval Research (ONR)
- Created
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2015-12-09Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2022-03-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field