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Nuclear Radiation in Geophysics / Kernstrahlung in der Geophysik pp 1–17Cite as

Radioactivity of the Lithosphere

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Zusammenfassung

Zahlreiche Bestimmungen des Radioaktivitätsgehaltes der Lithosphäre mittels physikalischer und chemischer Meßverfahren, bei denen etwa eine Messung auf 1017 g der zugänglichen Gesteinsphäre kommen, liefern im Mittel folgende Werte: Hauptträger der Gesteinsaktivität sind K40 (Häufigkeit 3 · l0-6g/g*), U238 (etwa 3 · 10-6 g/g) und Th232 (11–13·10-6 g/g). Rb87 und andere vorhandene oder durch natürliche Kernumwandlungen entstehende radioaktive Nuklide kommen in der Lithosphäre nur in sehr viel geringerer Menge vor.

Aus theoretischen Überlegungen und Überschlagsrechnungen läßt sich nach den vorhandenen Erfahrungen eine Beziehung aufstellen, die die mittlere Häufig-keitsverteilung bestimmter Aktivitätskonzentrationen in den Gesteinen beschreibt.

Global betrachtet ist die irdische Radioaktivität im wesentlichen auf die obersten Gesteinsschichten von einigen Zehner-Kilometern Dicke beschränkt. Im einzelnen ist sie, wie die Strahlungsspuren in Mineralien zeigen, in der Regel an relativ widerstandsfähige Mineralien gebunden, aus denen sie nur zum kleinen Teil in den Wasserkreislauf und in die Atmosphäre gelangt.

Zum Schluß werden verschiedene Folgerungen besprochen, so paläontologische Ergebnisse über die verflossenen 600 Millionen Jahre im Zusammenhang mit möglichen Strahlungsvariationen terrestrischen und extraterrestrischen Ur-sprungs, Änderungen der terrestrischen Isotopenhäufigkeit stabiler Nuklide — vor allem bei Pb und Ar — und die Anwendung dessen bei der Diskussion geologischer und geochemischer Cyclen.

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Authors
  1. John A. S. Adams
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Hochschule Aachen, Deutschland

    H. Israël

  2. University of Louisville, Louisville, USA

    A. Krebs

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© 1962 Springer- Verlag OHG / Berlin · Göttingen · Heidelberg

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Adams, J.A.S. (1962). Radioactivity of the Lithosphere. In: Israël, H., Krebs, A. (eds) Nuclear Radiation in Geophysics / Kernstrahlung in der Geophysik. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-92837-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-92837-6_1

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