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Science 20 November 1981:
Vol. 214. no. 4523, pp. 909 - 911
DOI: 10.1126/science.214.4523.909
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Articles

Growth Rate of a Vesicomyid Clam from the Galápagos Spreading Center

KARL K. TUREKIAN 1 and J. KIRK COCHRAN 1

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Box 6666, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511

The shell of a 19-centimeter-long vesicomyid clam, collected live at the Galápagos spreading center hydrothermal field, was sampled along growth lines and analyzed for members of the 238U and 232Th decay series. The growth rate, determined from the 210Po/210Pb and 228Th/228Ra couples, is about 4 centimeters per year along the axis of maximum growth, which is 12 centimeters long. This yields an age of 3 to 4 years for this clam.

Submitted on May 15, 1981
Revised on September 8, 1981


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Clams As Recorders of Ocean Ridge Volcanism and Hydrothermal Vent Field Activity.
S. R. Hart and J. Blusztajn (1998)
Science 280, 883-886
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Hydrothermal Vent Animals: Distribution and Biology.
J. F. Grassle and J. F. Grassle (1985)
Science 229, 713-717
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