Abstract
The average uranium and thorium concentration in 15 samples of wind-borne Saharan dust collected at Barbados, West Indies, is 3.6 and 12.4 ppm, respectively; these values are approximately one-third greater than that of average crustal material. The thorium-uranium weight ratio of the dust is 3.5, about the same as that of the crust; the 234U/ 238U activity ratio is 1.08 and the 230Th/ 234U activity ratio, 0.97. We conclude that the presence of large amounts of African dust in Atlantic sediments would not significantly affect the validity of the assumptions inherent in the 231Pa/ 230Th and 230Th/ 232Th dating methods.
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