Abstract
The effect of radioactive radiation on ESR signals of zircon has been studied. Natural zircons and synthetic zircons doped with Ca, U, Al-U, and Ca-P were irradiated with thermal neutrons and γ-rays. ESR measurements performed on these and also on non-irradiated syn-thetic zircons containing various elements, revealed that ESR signals in a range from g=2.000 to g=2.009 are attributed to various radiations and not to impurity ions. Among them, the signal g=2.008<sub>3</sub> changes little in intensity with the irradiations and is considered to be related only to α-decay. This has been demonstrated from the nuclear reaction <sup>40</sup>Ca (n, α)<sup>37</sup> Ar in the Ca-doped zircon. Since the intensity of the signal g=2.008<sub>3</sub> in natural zircons is roughly proportional to their fission track age, it is probably caused by disintegration of radioactive elements in the zircons. The other signals with g=2.000<sub>1</sub>, 2.001<sub>0</sub>, 2.001<sub>8</sub>. and 2.003<sub>0</sub>. become stronger in intensity after the neutron and γ-ray irradiations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27-33 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | JOURNAL OF MINERALOGY, PETROLOGY AND ECONOMIC GEOLOGY |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1990 |