The Terrestrial Distribution of the Radio-elements and the Origin of the Earth

Abstract

IN NATURE of June 19 and August 7, 1913, Mr. Holmes, in two interesting letters, shows on the basis of the planetesimal hypothesis how a concentration of the radio-elements might possibly take place in the earth's crust with their absence at depth to satisfactorily account for the observed temperature gradient of the earth; and in his latest communication he indicates how the inhibition of radio-activity by pressure might bring about the same result. But the terrestrial distribution of these elements seems to be of further importance in that it may enable us to determine whether our earth had a stellar or a planetesimal origin.