The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust
Abstract The univariate statistics of Potassium (K), thorium (Th), and uranium (U) concentrations, in the Earth’s oceanic and continental crust are examined by different techniques. The frequency distributions of the concentrations of these elements in the oceanic crust are derived from a global cat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Earth and Space Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001786 |
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| author | D. Baratoux M. Fall P.‐Y. Meslin M. W. Jessell O. Vanderhaeghe J.‐F. Moyen P. M. Ndiaye K. Boamah L. Baratoux A.‐S. André‐Mayer |
| author_facet | D. Baratoux M. Fall P.‐Y. Meslin M. W. Jessell O. Vanderhaeghe J.‐F. Moyen P. M. Ndiaye K. Boamah L. Baratoux A.‐S. André‐Mayer |
| author_sort | D. Baratoux |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The univariate statistics of Potassium (K), thorium (Th), and uranium (U) concentrations, in the Earth’s oceanic and continental crust are examined by different techniques. The frequency distributions of the concentrations of these elements in the oceanic crust are derived from a global catalog of mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Their frequency distributions of concentrations in the continental crust are illustrated by the North Pilbara Craton, and the West Africa Craton. For these two cratons, the distributions of K, Th, and U derived from geochemical analyses of several thousand whole rock samples differ significantly from those derived from airborne radiometric surveys. The distributions from airborne surveys tends to be more symmetric with smaller standard deviations than the right‐skewed distributions inferred from whole rock geochemical analyses. Hypothetic causes of these differences include (a) bias in rock sampling or in airborne surveys, (b) the differences between the chemistry of superficial material and rocks, and (c) the differences in scales of measurements. The scale factor, viewed as consequence of the central limit theorem applied to K, Th, and U concentrations, appears to account for most of the observed differences in the distributions of K, Th, and U. It suggests that the three scales of auto‐correlation of K, Th, and U concentrations are of the same order of magnitude as the resolution of the airborne radiometric surveys (50–200 m). Concentrations of K, Th, and U are therefore generally heterogenous at smaller scales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:22:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1ced2cc140af4d5a89726f3d7ff7f688 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2333-5084 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:22:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Earth and Space Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-1ced2cc140af4d5a89726f3d7ff7f6882022-12-22T02:54:37ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)Earth and Space Science2333-50842021-09-0189n/an/a10.1029/2021EA001786The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth CrustD. Baratoux0M. Fall1P.‐Y. Meslin2M. W. Jessell3O. Vanderhaeghe4J.‐F. Moyen5P. M. Ndiaye6K. Boamah7L. Baratoux8A.‐S. André‐Mayer9Géosciences Environnement Toulouse University of Toulouse CNRS & IRD Toulouse FranceGeology Department University Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar SenegalInstitut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie University of Toulouse CNRS & IRD Toulouse FranceSchool of Earth Sciences Center for Exploration Targeting The University of Western Australia Crawley WA AustraliaGéosciences Environnement Toulouse University of Toulouse CNRS & IRD Toulouse FranceLGL‐TPE UJM‐UCLB‐ENSL‐CNRS Saint Etienne FranceGeology Department University Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar SenegalGeological Survey Department of Ghana Accra GhanaGéosciences Environnement Toulouse University of Toulouse CNRS & IRD Toulouse FranceGeoRessources Université de Lorraine CNRS Nancy FranceAbstract The univariate statistics of Potassium (K), thorium (Th), and uranium (U) concentrations, in the Earth’s oceanic and continental crust are examined by different techniques. The frequency distributions of the concentrations of these elements in the oceanic crust are derived from a global catalog of mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Their frequency distributions of concentrations in the continental crust are illustrated by the North Pilbara Craton, and the West Africa Craton. For these two cratons, the distributions of K, Th, and U derived from geochemical analyses of several thousand whole rock samples differ significantly from those derived from airborne radiometric surveys. The distributions from airborne surveys tends to be more symmetric with smaller standard deviations than the right‐skewed distributions inferred from whole rock geochemical analyses. Hypothetic causes of these differences include (a) bias in rock sampling or in airborne surveys, (b) the differences between the chemistry of superficial material and rocks, and (c) the differences in scales of measurements. The scale factor, viewed as consequence of the central limit theorem applied to K, Th, and U concentrations, appears to account for most of the observed differences in the distributions of K, Th, and U. It suggests that the three scales of auto‐correlation of K, Th, and U concentrations are of the same order of magnitude as the resolution of the airborne radiometric surveys (50–200 m). Concentrations of K, Th, and U are therefore generally heterogenous at smaller scales.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001786potassiumuraniumthoriumgeostatisticsradiometrics |
| spellingShingle | D. Baratoux M. Fall P.‐Y. Meslin M. W. Jessell O. Vanderhaeghe J.‐F. Moyen P. M. Ndiaye K. Boamah L. Baratoux A.‐S. André‐Mayer The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust Earth and Space Science potassium uranium thorium geostatistics radiometrics |
| title | The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust |
| title_full | The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust |
| title_short | The Impact of Measurement Scale on the Univariate Statistics of K, Th, and U in the Earth Crust |
| title_sort | impact of measurement scale on the univariate statistics of k th and u in the earth crust |
| topic | potassium uranium thorium geostatistics radiometrics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001786 |
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