On the Separation Efficiency of Entrapped and in situ-Produced Noble Gas Components at Sample Crushing in Vacuum

Abstract

The paper discusses specifics of gas separation techniques by means of sample crushing in vacuum, and, in particular, the stepwise crushing method for studying the sources and evolution of the fluid phase of rocks and minerals. The data on the Seblyavr massif, Kola Peninsula, are employed to demonstrate that, if the age of the minerals is old enough and they contain elevated concentrations of parental elements (U, Th, and K), in situ produced noble gas components can strongly distort the composition of the initially entrapped gases and thus result in misinterpretations of the analytical data. The application of stepwise crushing technique, as well as an individualized approach to data interpretation for each of the samples, makes it possible to solve the problem.