Radioactivity of Oil-Waters in Czechoslovakia

Abstract

PROF. V. J. VERNADSKY has directed attention to the investigations of Chlopin, Kurbatov¹ and other Russian scientific workers on the radium and mesothorium content of the brine of the Russian oil districts. In general, the radium content was found to be much higher than the normal content of surface waters (10¹⁵ gm. radium per gm. water). The maximum was found in the water of the oil beds of Novyj Groznyj in the Northern Caucasus, with 1·46 × 10¹⁰ gm. radium per gm. water. In several places the mesothorium content was likewise considerably higher, though there were scarcely any traces of thorium.