Abundances and distribution of cosmogenic radionuclides in a meteorite provide important information to the cosmic-ray exposure history (irradiation history) of the meteoroid after release from its parent body and before its capture by planet Earth. Further, terrestrial ages can be calculated from the relative abundance of these radionuclides based on their known halflife and production rates. The most important nuclide for terrestrial age dating is carbon-14.
MetBase contains a large collection of radionuclide data for more than 2000 meteorites derived from hundreds of publications on this subject, including the large compilation by K.Nishiizumi (1987) Nucl. Tracks Radiat. Meas. 13, 209-273. Considered in MetBase are the radionuclides 10Be, 14C, 26Al, 36Cl, 41Ca and 53Mn, the cosmogenic noble gas 21Ne, as well as terrestrial ages calculated from the 14C or 36Cl data.
Printout example: » cosmogenic radionuclide data for MAC 88104/5 lunar meteorite [20 KB]
