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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Separation of Uranium and Thorium for 230Th-U Dating of Submarine Hydrothermal Sulfides
Published on: May 20, 2019
234U and 230Th determination by FIA-ICP-MS and application to uranium-series disequilibrium in marine samples
Maria Luiza D P Godoy1, José Marcus Godoy, Renato Kowsmann
1Instituto de Radioproteção e Dosimetria, Comissão de Energia Nuclear, Caixa Postal 37750, Barra da Tijuca, CEP 22643-970, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Abstract:
A 234U and 230Th determination method based on an extraction chromatographic separation on a flow injection system coupled to a quadruple ICP-MS was developed. Two-milliliter UTEVA (Eichrom Co.) cartridges were applied as separation tool and 236U and 229Th as spikes. Loading and washing steps were carried out in 3 M HNO3 solution and 0.05 M ammonium oxalate applied to elute both uranium and thorium. The method was applied initially to the IAEA-327 soil reference sample and NIST SRM 4357 ocean sediment reference material, with the obtained 234U and 230Th concentrations in agreement with the reference levels. Samples from a deep-sea sediment core (2450 m water depth) were analyzed and based on 230Th/234U dating, a mean sedimentation rate of 3.3 cm ky(-1) was calculated. Samples from two sediment layers were also dated by 14C-AMS and the observed ages agree with the 230Th/234U results.
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