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Plutonium-244 in Pacific Crust Traces 100-Myr Cosmic Explosion

6/18/2026

Summary

Story summary

Dominik Koll of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf reported plutonium-244 in a Pacific crust came from a cosmic explosion 100 million years ago.
The 1976 crust from 4,830 meters showed plutonium-244, iron-60 peaks at 2.5 and 7 million years, and no curium-247, indicating the source predates its 15.6-million-year half-life.
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation physicist Michael Hotchkis said the lack of curium-247 limits the explosion to 1 billion years, findings appearing in Nature Astronomy and Nature.

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Story summary

Dominik Koll of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf reported plutonium-244 in a Pacific crust came from a cosmic explosion 100 million years ago.
The 1976 crust from 4,830 meters showed plutonium-244, iron-60 peaks at 2.5 and 7 million years, and no curium-247, indicating the source predates its 15.6-million-year half-life.
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation physicist Michael Hotchkis said the lack of curium-247 limits the explosion to 1 billion years, findings appearing in Nature Astronomy and Nature.