Accession Number:
AD0619834
Title:
A PROCEDURE FOR GEOCHEMICAL INTERPRETATION OF TERRESTRIAL RARE-EARTH ABUNDANCE PATTERNS,
Descriptive Note:
Corporate Author:
MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE DEPT OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
1962-08-09
Pagination or Media Count:
8.0
Abstract:
A procedure for geochemical interpretation of rareearth abundances in rocks and minerals is presented. The ratio of each rare-earth abundance in the sample to the corresponding value in chondritic meteorites on logarithmic scale is plotted as a function of atomic number Z. Normalization to chondrites compensates for element-to-element irregularities and reveals small relative abundance variations among neighboring rare earths as a result of natural processes. It is shown that increased order occurs, permitting interpolations and extrapolations to be made with fair confidence, and systematic rare-earth abundance patterns are made apparent. The usefulness of the procedure is discussed using several examples from the existing literature. Author