Publication Date:
2018-01-19
Description:
Isotopes can be characterized to be stable, cosmogenic, radioactive, or radiogenic. Stable isotopes do not change their relative abundance in the environment as long as no isotopes are added or extracted from the system. Cosmogenic isotopes are produced by high energetic cosmic rays in the upper layers of the atmosphere and are usually radioactive also. Radioactive isotopes change their abundance in the environment according to their half-life (T1/2), whereas radiogenic isotopes are not radioactive itself but change their abundance according to the half-life of their mother isotope. There are several important radiogenic systems known, and the most important are 238U/206Pb, 190Pt/186Os, 147Sm/143Nd, 87Rb/87Sr, 187Re/187Os, 176Lu/176Hf, 232Th/208Pb, 40 K/40Ar, 40 K/40Ca, 235U/207Pb, 129I/129Xe, 10Be/10B, 26Al/26 Mg, 36Cl/36Ar, 14C/14 N, etc. For the geological sciences, the most important radiogenic isotope systems are the radiogenic system ...
Type:
Book chapter
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
