Multielemental NAA of geological micro-grain samples for origin identification

Thirty two elements were determined in five pieces of presumed cosmic dust samples with the weights of 5 to 25 g by neutron activation analysis (NAA). All the interferences from fission, threshold reactions and -spectra were corrected for and different counting geometries normalized. Enrichment factors with reference to C1-chondrite are about 200 and 100 for lithophile refractory elements (e.g., V, Th, Hf and W) and rare earth elements (REE), respectively. Deficiencies were observed for Co, Cr, Mg and Na, etc. The C1-chondrite normalized REE patterns are close to those of extraterrestrial materials, with no anomaly of Eu, indicating an extraterrestrial origin of the grain samples analyzed.