Publication Date:
2017-02-13
Description:
Here we present the first high precision 231Protactinium measurements in a manganese crust applying thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) using the double filament technique. The detection limit using TIMS is at least one order of magnitude lower, the statistical uncertainty 6–8 times better than for α-spectrometry. Thus, older sections of manganese crust VA13/2 from the Northern Equatorial Pacific could be measured precisely for their 231Pa activity. Our results reveal significant variations in 231Paxs activity for the last 150 ka which corroborate existing α-spectrometric data. If the growth rate was constant between 0 and 450 ka, the protactinium flux from the water column into manganese encrustations must have been variable. Thus, 231Paxs is not suitable for dating marine Mn/Fe deposits.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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