Abstract
A method is described for the measurement of the density of calcium carbonate materials from the attenuation of a narrow, collimated beam of gamma photons. For the measurement of density for slices, approximately 0.5 to 1.0 cm thick, from the skeletons of reef building corals, the optimum beam energy is 30–34 keV; and measurement is practical from approximately 22 to 100 keV. The potential utilities of five commercially available isotopic sources (109Cd,125I,253Gd,210Pb and241Am) are evaluated. Methods and results are presented for gamma densitometry using210Pb and241Am. The210Pb point source had its principal gamma emission at 46.5 keV. Bremsstrahlung and high energy (800 keV) gamma emissions associated with the210Pb decay grand-daughter were detected, and procedures were developed to accommodate the contribution of these emissions to the overall count rate. The attenuation of count rate by aluminium and aragonite absorbers closely followed simple theoretical considerations provided that narrow energy window settings were used at the radiation monitor. These theoretical considerations take account of the density of the material absorbing the radiation, and hence the density could be determined from the attenuation of the gamma beam. Increased accuracy was achieved by the use of241Am and high speed counting equipment.241Am has its principal gamma emission at 59.6 keV. The attenuation of this gamma beam follows simple theoretical considerations for targets with mass thicknesses from 0 to 6 g cm-2. Aragonite from the shell of a giant clam was found to have slightly different properties in the absorption of gamma photons to aragonite from a coral skeleton. The differences were small but statistically significant.
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Chalker, B.E., Barnes, D.J. Gamma densitometry for the measurement of skeletal density. Coral Reefs 9, 11–23 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00686717
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00686717