Vesicle Size Distribution as a Novel Nuclear Forensics Tool.

ABSTRACT: The first nuclear bomb detonation on Earth involved a plutonium implosion-type device exploded at the Trinity test site (33°40'38.28″N, 106°28'31.44″W), White Sands Proving Grounds, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Melting and subsequent quenching of the local arkosic sand produced glassy material, designated "Trinitite". In cross section, Trinitite comprises a thin (1-2 mm), primarily glassy surface above a lower zone (1-2 cm) of mixed melt and mineral fragments from the precursor sand. Multiple hypotheses have been put forward to explain these well-documented but heterogeneous textures. This study reports the first quantitative textural analysis of vesicles in Trinitite to constrain their physical and thermal history. Vesicle morphology and size distributions confirm the upper, glassy surfac

SUBMITTER: Donohue PH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5033408 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature