Photostimulated luminescence applicable to pre-screening of potassium-rich phases in chondritic breccias

The identification of alkali-rich components in extraterrestrial materials along with their separation from other constituents is indispensable for subsequent cosmochemical and isotopic studies. This paper presents a simple pre-screening method for such materials by autoradiography using imaging plates (IPs), which is applicable to identification of mm-sized samples containing ca. 30 µg of potassium in the Yamato-74442 chondrite. The detection limit of IPs was ~1 mBq of ⁴⁰K under 49 days exposure. The method provides an opportunity to screen meteorite materials non-destructively and to inexpensively check potassium-rich areas and are suitable for the ⁴⁰K–⁴⁰Ca and ⁴⁰K–⁴⁰Ar (³⁹Ar–⁴⁰Ar) age determinations.