Pleochroic halo
Geological phenomenon
A pleochroic halo, or radiohalo, is a microscopic, spherical shell of discolouration (pleochroism) within minerals such as biotite that occurs in granite and other igneous rocks. The halo is a zone of radiation damage caused by the inclusion of minute radioactive crystals within the host crystal structure. The inclusions are typically zircon, apatite, or titanite which can accommodate uranium or thorium within their crystal structures. One explanation is that the discolouration is caused by alpha particles emitted by the nuclei; the radius of the concentric shells are proportional to the particles' energy.
01Production
Uranium-238 follows a sequence of decay through thorium, radium, radon, polonium, and lead. These are the alpha-emitting isotopes in the sequence. (Because of their continuous energy distribution and greater range, beta particles cannot form distinct rings.)
| Isotope | Half-life | Energy in MeV |
|---|---|---|
| U-238 | 4.47×109 years | 4.196 |
| U-234 | 2.455×105 years | 4.776 |
| Th-230 | 75,400 years | 4.6876 |
| Ra-226 | 1,599 years | 4.784 |
| Rn-222 | 3.823 days | 5.4897 |
| Po-218 | 3.04 minutes | 5.181 |
| Po-214 | 163.7 microseconds | 7.686 |
| Po-210 | 138.4 days | 5.304 |
| Pb-206 | stable | 0 |
The final characteristics of a pleochroic halo depends upon the initial isotope, and the size of each ring of a halo is dependent upon the alpha decay energy. A pleochroic halo formed from U-238 has theoretically eight concentric rings, with five actually distinguishable under a lighted microscope, while a halo formed from polonium has only one, two, or three rings depending on which isotope the starting material is. In U-238 haloes, U-234, and Ra-226 rings coincide with the Th-230 to form one ring; Rn-222 and Po-210 rings also coincide to form one ring. These rings are indistinguishable from one another under a petrographic microscope.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pleochroic halo”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Dark crown.JPG by Strekeisen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.