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The cosmogenic nuclides measured by AMS at PRIME Lab include ¹⁰Be,¹⁴C, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca and ¹²⁹I. They are produced in meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials by intense cosmic radiation with target materials, in the Earth's atmosphere by cosmic ray spallation of target elements (Garden variety), and on the solid surface of the earth by cosmic ray spallation, thermal neutron and muon captures, and other nuclear reactions with principal target atoms. In addition, nuclear weapon tests and nuclear fuel reprocessing also produce ¹⁰Be , ¹⁴C, ³⁶Cl and ¹²⁹I. Table 1 shows some cosmgenic nuclides with half-lives and major targets

Table 1. Major cosmogenic nuclides

Nuclide Half-life (yr) Major targets () = in atmosphere 14C 5,730 O, Mg, Si, Fe (N) 41Ca 1.04 x 105 Ca, Ti, Fe 36Cl 3.01 x 105 Cl, K, Ca, Fe,Ti, (Ar) 26Al 7.05 x 105 Si, Al, Fe, (Ar) 10Be 1.36 x 106 O, Mg, Si, Fe, (N, O) 53Mn 3.7 x 106 Fe 129I 1.56 x 107 Te, Ba, La, Ce, (Xe)

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PRIME Lab Research List

The ever-increasing diversity of researches at PRIME Lab through the collaborations from nationwide to worldwide have been being made great contribution to the following areas:

Earth and Space Science

Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide production rates Atmospheric processes (D.Knies Thesis: Cosmogenic radionuclides in precipitation) Paleoclimatology Geomorphology Landform history and dynamics River incision process Soil erosion Volcanic eruptions Neotectonics Glaciology Chronology of glaciations and climatic interpretations Glacial landforms and erosion Glacial reconstructions Hydrology Dating very old ground water Dating young ground water Groundwater recharge rates Climate change and water resources Cosmic ray exposure of meteorites Solar variability

Energy and Mineral Resources application

Dating of petroleum fluids Methane-rich fluid migration in shallow geosphere Geothermal Energy Tracing geothermal fluids Waste disposal Dating ground water at high-level nuclear waste disposal sites Natural analogs for high level waste sites Soil-water movement at low-level waste sites Effect of climate change on waste repositories

Biological Sciences

Tracing organic molecules with 14C Measuring bone resorption rates with 41Ca Studying the effectiveness of adjuvants in vaccines with 26Al

Health physics:

Reconstruction of Hiroshima and Chernobyl dosimety

Nuclear safety and safeguard

Wide-area environmental monitoring to detect signatures of undeclared nuclear activities Environmental monitoring around nuclear power reactors and reprocessing plants

Archaeology - Human evolution

Canteen Koppie (S. Africa) Zhoukoudian (China) Yunxian (China) Atapuerca (Spain)

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