Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 August 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5379, pp. 971 - 973
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5379.971
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Tetravalent Uranium in Calcite

N. C. Sturchio, M. R. Antonio, L. Soderholm, S. R. Sutton, J. C. Brannon

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence microprobe studies of 35-million-year-old calcite from a Mississippi Valley-type zinc ore deposit indicate substitution of tetravalent uranium for divalent calcium. Thus, tetravalent uranium has a stable location in calcite deposited under reducing conditions. This result validates uranium-series dating methods (including uranium/lead dating) for ancient calcite and shows that calcite provides a sink for uranium in deep groundwater aquifers and anoxic lacustrine and marine basins.

N. C. Sturchio, M. R. Antonio, L. Soderholm, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. S. R. Sutton, Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources and Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. J. C. Brannon, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Organic-Mineral Interface in Biominerals.
P. U. P. A. Gilbert, M. Abrecht, and B. H. Frazer (2005)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 59, 157-185
   Full Text »    PDF »
An Overview of Synchrotron Radiation Applications to Low Temperature Geochemistry and Environmental Science.
G. E. Brown Jr. and N. C. Sturchio (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 49, 1-115
   Full Text »    PDF »
Uranyl Surface Complexes Formed on Subsurface Media from DOE Facilities.
B. C. Bostick, S. Fendorf, M. O. Barnett, P. M. Jardine, and S. C. Brooks (2002)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66, 99-108
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)