[meteorite-list] New Paper on Trintite in “Geology Today”

[Paul H.]

A new summary paper about trinitite was published in late
2010 in “Geology Today.” The paper is:

Eby, N., R. Hermes, N. Charnley, and J. A. Smoliga, 2010a, 
Trinitite—the atomic rock. vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 180–185.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2451.2010.00767.x/abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gto.2010.26.issue-5/issuetoc

One conclusion is that much of the surface layer was 
not created by the melting of the ground surface as 
previously thought. Instead, they state that further 
work has shown that much of the trinitite had been 
entrained in the rising cloud of gasses and subsequently 
rained down onto the surface as molten droplets. A lot 
of this material still retains bead and dumbbell shapes 
that were formed as the molten material was 
transported by the gas cloud. They note that a significant 
amount of these beads and dumbbells was blown 
downwind and accumulated over a fairly wide area. 
These beads and dumbells are now found commonly 
concentrated on the surface of anthills and sometimes 
called “anthill trinitite.”

Among many other things, they found that the red trinitite, 
which color results from the presence of copper, contains 
metallic chondrules that contain iron and lead. They 
conclude that the metallic chondrules “are melted bits of 
the first atomic bomb and the surrounding support 
structures—history encased in glass.”

Another paper is:

Fahey, A. J., C. J. Zeissler, D. E. Newbury, J. Davis, and R. M. 
Lindstrom, 2010, Postdetonation nuclear debris for attribution.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. vol. 107,
no. 47, pp. 20207-20212.
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/47/20207.abstract

Some online material about trinitite are:

Trinitite – the Atomic Rock by N. Eby and others 
http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson_Eby/Research/Trinitite/NE_SE%20GSA%20trinitite%20presentation.pdf

Trinitite Varieties (Green, Red, Black & Pearls) by Steven 
L. Kay, Nuclearon.
http://www.radiochemistry.org/documents/pdf/trinitite_nuclearon_061608.pdf.

Trinitite, Radioactivity of trinitite after 62 years by
Daniela Pittauerova
http://www.radioaktivitaet.uni-bremen.de/Seminar/Trinitite.pdf

Eby, N., R. Hermes, N. Charnley, and J. A. Smoliga, 2010b, 
Trinitite – the Atomic Rock. Geological Society of America 
Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 42, No. 1, p. 77
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010NE/finalprogram/abstract_169905.htm

Yours,

Paul H.