Remote sensing volatile elements for new signatures from underground nuclear explosions

The detection of radioactive noble gas isotopes is one of the key tools in detecting underground nuclear explosions, but other volatile elemental species, that have historically been overlooked, may also migrate to the surface. To investigate this possibility we have been studying which elements are most readily volatilized into air from solid materials (rocks, concrete, glass, etc.) following short duration (60–120 s) spot heating spanning a wide temperature range (100–2000 °C). The widest possible range of elements (Li–U) was monitored during the experiments that produced some unexpected results with regards to the apparent atmospheric persistence of some volatile signatures long after heating had ceased and the sample had returned to room temperature. Results highlighting elemental volatility as a function of temperature from different materials will be presented along with examples illustrating the extended periods over which some elements remain detectable by real time atmospheric sampling.