Mamyrin B.A., Tolstikhin I.N. Helium Isotopes in Nature

Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1984. — 273 p. — (Developments in Geochemistry, Vol. 3).The first part of the book, written by B. Mamyrin, gives a description of mass-spectrometric techniques and measurements of the helium isotope abundance. In this part methods of collecting various terrestrial samples are discussed as well as the apparatus for helium extraction, purification, volumetric measurements, etc. In the second part of the book, written by I. Tolstikhin, recent data on the origin and distribution of helium isotopes in meteorites, in the earth's mantle, the crust and ocean, and in the atmosphere are discussed. It concludes with a model of the earth degassing and differentiation which is the logical outcome of the preceding analysis. The model shows a quantitative correspondence between the well-known data of the abundance of radioactive elements, primordial and radiogenic noble gases on the one hand and new data in the field of helium isotope geochemistry on the other.