Technical note: Quantifying uranium-series disequilibrium in natural samples for dosimetric dating – Part 1: gamma spectrometry

Mauz, Barbara; Nolan, Paul J.; Appleby, Peter G.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-213-2022

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-213-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-213-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

Short communication/technical note

|

14 Apr 2022

Short communication/technical note |

| 14 Apr 2022

Technical note: Quantifying uranium-series disequilibrium in natural samples for dosimetric dating – Part 1: gamma spectrometry

Barbara Mauz, Paul J. Nolan, and Peter G. Appleby

Data sets

NIST Standard Reference Database 126, Tables of X-Ray Mass Attenuation Coefficients and Mass Energy-Absorption Coefficients from 1 keV to 20 MeV for Elements Z=1 to 92 and 48 Additional Substances of Dosimetric Interest J. H. Hubbell and S. M. Seltzer https://doi.org/10.18434/T4D01F

Reference Materials characterized for Radionuclides International Atomic Energy Agency https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/ReferenceMaterials/Pages/Index-for-Radionuclides.aspx

The NUDAT/PCNUDAT program for nuclear data R. R. Kinsey, C. L. Dunford, J. K. Tuli, and T. W. Burrows https://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nudat3/

Model code and software

Application Notes Mirion https://www.mirion.com/learning-center/application-notes

Ortec software package Ortec https://www.ortec-online.com

Notes on the use of the program gf3 D. C. Radford https://radware.phy.ornl.gov/gf3/gf3.html

Short summary

It is of critical importance to dosimetric dating techniques that the quantity of the radiation dose is estimated accurately. Here we describe gamma spectrometry in terms of instrument, measurement procedures, and data analyses required for estimating parent nuclide activities. The description includes analytical procedures required to generate data with sufficient accuracy and precision for samples in secular equilibrium. We also outline procedures required to quantify disequilibrium.