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As part of its ongoing project on repositories for high-activity, long-lived radioactive waste, a 2000 m deep borehole was drilled by the French Nuclear Waste Agency (ANDRA) in the layered structure of alternating aquifers and aquitards of the Eastern Paris Basin. Among the information retrieved from this borehole, the vertical distribution of chloride in porewaters showed that, in addition to vertical diffusion, lateral advection in the aquifers plays a major part in transporting chlorine away from the study area. Helium concentrations were also measured in porewaters along the borehole. Because the helium input function is different from that of chlorine, it represents an excellent alternative tracer to further constrain transport characteristics. We applied an advection–diffusion model to the helium profiles with the appropriate source term for 4He based on U–Th measured concentrations of uranium and thorium. 40Ar/36Ar data, which were available along the whole sequence, were also simulated. The modelled and measured 4He profiles were in good agreement, indicating that the transport parameters used for the chlorine simulations were robust. 40Ar/36Ar simulations also gave coherent results and confirmed that most of the radiogenic 40Ar remained trapped in the rocks (primarily in clays and feldspars).

Abstract—The concentrations of cosmogenic radionuclides and noble gases in Pitts (IAB) and Horse Creek (ungrouped) provide unambiguous evidence that both irons have a complex exposure history with a first‐stage irradiation of 100–600 Myr under high shielding, followed by a second‐stage exposure of ˜1 Myr as small objects. The first‐stage exposure ages of ˜100 Myr for Horse Creek and ˜600 Myr for Pitts are similar to cosmic‐ray exposure ages of other iron meteorites, and most likely represent the Yarkovsky orbital drift times of irons from their parent bodies in the main asteroid belt to one of the nearby chaotic resonance zones. The short second‐stage exposure ages indicate that collisional debris from recent impact events on their precursor objects was quickly delivered to Earth. The short delivery times suggests that the recent collision events occurred while the precursor objects of Horse Creek and Pitts were either very close to the chaotic resonance zones or already in Earth‐crossing orbits. Since the cosmogenic noble gas records of Horse Creek and Pitts indicate a minimum radius of a few meters for the precursor objects, but do not exclude km‐sized objects, we conclude that these irons may represent fragments of two near‐Earth asteroids, 3103 Eger and 1986 DA, respectively. Finally, we used the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in Horse Creek, which contains 2.5 wt% Si, to test current model calculations for the production of cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and neonisotopes from iron, nickel, and silicon.

Abstract—Two spherical targets made of gabbro with a radius of 25 cm and of steel with a radius of 10 cm were irradiated isotropically with 1600 MeV protons at the SATURNE synchrotron at Laboratoire National Saturne (LNS)/CEN Saclay, in order to simulate the production of nuclides in meteorites induced by galactic cosmic‐ray protons in space. These experiments supply depth‐dependent production rate data for a wide range of radioactive and stable isotopes in up to 28 target elements. In this paper, we report results for 78Kr, 80–86Kr isotopes in Rb, Sr, Y and Zr and for 124Xe, 126Xe, 128–132Xe, 134Xe, 136Xe isotopes in Ba and La. Krypton and xenon concentrations have been measured at different depths in the spheres by using conventional mass spectrometry. Based on Monte‐Carlo techniques, theoretical production rates are calculated by folding depth‐dependent spectra of primary and secondary protons and secondary neutrons with the excitation functions of the relevant nuclear reactions. The comparison of the model calculation results with experimental data in the thick target experiments performed at LNS and previously at CERN have allowed adjustments of the poorly known excitation functions of neutron‐induced reactions. Thus, for the two experiments at SATURNE, excellent agreement is obtained between experimental and calculated production rates for most Kr and Xe isotopes in all investigated target elements. Only Xe production in Ba in the gabbro is underestimated by the calculations by ˜25%. This work validates the approach of the thin‐target model calculations of cosmogenic nuclide production rates in the attempt of modeling the interaction of galactic cosmic‐ray protons with stony and iron meteorites in space as well as with lunar samples.

We report xenon isotopic abundances observed in the stepwise release of noble gases in a highpurity metal separate of the Forest Vale (H4) chondrite. We identify a 244Pu-derived fission component, due to recoils into the metal, a cosmic-ray-produced spallation component and a new trapped component (FVM; 132Xe: 134Xe: 136Xe = 3.16:1.235:1.000) which is isotopically distinct from known solar system reservoirs. We discuss several processes which might account for observed isotopic shifts and conclude that the signature of FVM xenon may provide clues regarding the origin of chondritic metal.

Abstract—The Campos Sales meteorite fell close to the town of Campos Sales in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará (7°2′ S, 40°10′ W) on 1991 January 31 at 10:00 P.M. (local time). Several fragments were recovered from an area estimated to be 1 × 3 km. The stone is an ordinary L5 chondrite (Fa25.0and FS21.6) and is lightly shocked (S1). Metal phases present are kamacite, tetrataenite, and antitaenite. Noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe have been analyzed in two bulk samples of Campos Sales. All exposure ages based on determination of cosmogenic 3He, 21Ne, 38Ar, 83Kr, and 126Xe abundances and on the cosmogenic 81Kr/83Kr ratio agree well, which suggests no gas loss during cosmic‐ray exposure. The cosmic‐ray exposure age is 23.3 ± 1.0 Ma, which falls in the range observed for L5 chondrites (20–30 Ma). The gas‐retention ages indicate He loss that must have occurred prior to or during ejection from the L‐chondrite parent body.