and rubidium.
Cesium and rubidium are water soluble and could
be expected to be leact:ed out of the sand and soil samples.
A probable reason for the absence of strontium in the expected
amount is not clear.
Radiochemical analyses were made of the following ashed
plankton,
| biological samples:
algae,
gland, fish tissues and land plants.
octopus gill and digestive
These specimens were from
the post test collections except for one alga that was collected
before the Mike test.
Little selective absorption of isotopes
by thes. ~negton so soon after the shot 1s observed exvept for
concentration of zirconium in an octopus gill and of rare earths
by plankton and by a surgeon fish and s butterfly fish.
Results
of these analyses are shown in Table 18.
Method Used.
Twenty to fifty-gram portions of sand or
soil samples were ashed at 700°C to destroy organic matter and
the ash dissolved in dilute nitric acid.
Filtering the solutions
and counting the filters showed that solution of the active
material was complete.
Biological samples were also ashed and
dissolved in dilute nitric acid.
Filtering the solutions and
counting the filtersfor these samples showed that in most cases
the smal]
insoluble residue contained less than 10 percent of
the activity of the sample.
Duplicate portions of the filtrates
were taken and analyzed by the following methods.
Rare earths and zirconium were separated as hydroxides by
precipitation with ammonium hydroxide.
tate was dissolved
The resulting precipi-
in nitric acid and rare earths
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49
separated
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uA
Maye