A rapid isotope ratio analysis protocol for nuclear solid materials using nano-second laser-ablation time-of-flight ICP-MS.

The analysis of the isotopic composition of nuclear or non-nuclear solid materials is performed in a variety of fields, e.g., for quality assurance in the production of nuclear fuels, as signatures in forensics, nuclear safeguards, and non-proliferation control, in material characterization, geology, and archeology.

Geochemical evidence for magmatic water within Mars from pyroxenes in the Shergotty meteorite.

Observations of martian surface morphology have been used to argue that an ancient ocean once existed on Mars. It has been thought that significant quantities of such water could have been supplied to the martian surface through volcanic outgassing, but this suggestion is contradicted by the low magmatic water content that is generally inferred from chemical analyses of igneous martian meteorites. Here, however, we report the distributions of trace elements within pyroxenes of the Shergotty meteorite--a basalt body ejected 175 million years ago from Mars--as well as hydrous and anhydrous crystallization experiments that, together, imply that water contents of pre-eruptive magma on Mars could have been up to 1.

Diagenetic origin of quartz silt in mudstones and implications for silica cycling.

Mudstone--the most abundant sedimentary rock type, composed primarily of clay- or silt-sized particles--contains most of the quartz found in sedimentary rocks. These quartz grains, which are chemically and mechanically resistant and therefore preserve their characteristics well, have long been considered to be derived from the continental crust. Here we analyse quartz silt from black shales in the eastern USA, dating back to the Late Devonian period (about 370 million years ago), using backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence imaging and measure oxygen isotopes with an ion probe.

Short-lived oxygen diffusion during hot, deep-seated meteoric alteration of anorthosite.

Heterogeneous oxygen isotope compositions of plagioclase from the Boehls Butte anorthosite include some of the most oxygen-18-depleted values (to -16 per mil) reported for plagioclase in meta-igneous rocks and indicate high-temperature (T > 500 degrees C) isotopic exchange between plagioclase and nearly pristine meteoric fluid. Retrograde reaction-enhanced permeability assisted influx of meteoric-hydrothermal fluids into the deep-seated anorthosite. Isotopic gradients of about 14 per mil over 600 micrometers in single crystals require short-lived (about 10(4) years) diffusional exchange of oxygen and locally large effective water:rock ratios, followed by rapid loss of water and cessation of oxygen diffusion in the anorthosite.