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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Separation of Uranium and Thorium for 230Th-U Dating of Submarine Hydrothermal Sulfides
Published on: May 20, 2019
Short-lived radioactivity and magma genesis
Abstract:
Short-lived decay products of uranium and thorium have half-lives and chemistries sensitive to the processes and time scales of magma genesis, including partial melting in the mantle and magmatic differentiation in the crust. Radioactive disequilibrium between (238)U, (230)Th, and (226)Ra is widespread in volcanic rocks. These disequilibria and the isotopic composition of thorium depend especially on the extent and rate of melting as well as the presence and composition of vapor during melting. The duration of mantle melting may be several hundred millennia, whereas ascent times are a few decades to thousands of years. Differentiation of most magmas commonly occurs within a few millennia, but felsic ones can be tens of millennia old upon eruption.
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