Aluminum-26 in Pacific Sediment: Implications

Abstract

Aluminum-26 has been detected in a sample of sediment from the South Pacific. The disintegration rate of 0.8 disintegration per minute per kilogram of dry sediment is considerably higher than that expected from cosmic-ray spallation of atmospheric argon; it appears to result mainly from accretion of activity induced in interplanetary dust by solar-flare particles. This finding is in keeping with Wasson's published estimates regarding the magnitude of this effect, and confirms the order-of-magnitude correctness of the solar-particle flux and terrestrial accretion rate of interplanetary dust used in that calculation.