Isotope persisted down to the present because their rate of decay is so slow (e.g. uranium-238 and potassium-40). Post-primordial isotopes were created by cosmic ray bombardment as cosmogenic nuclides (e.g., tritium, carbon-14), or by the decay of a radioactive primordial isotope to a radioactive radiogenic nuclide daughter (e.g. uranium to radium). A few isotopes are naturally synthesized as nucleogenic nuclides, by some other natural nuclear reaction, such as when neutrons from natural nuclear fission are absorbed by another atom. As discussed above, only 80 elements have any stable isotopes, and 26 of these have only one stable isotope. Thus, about two-thirds
Isotope geochemistry usually is given as a multiple of the present atmospheric ratio (Ra). Common values for R/Ra: He/He isotope chemistry is being used to date groundwaters, estimate groundwater flow rates, track water pollution, and provide insights into hydrothermal processes, igneous geology and ore genesis. U-series isotopes are unique amongst radiogenic isotopes because, being in the U-series decay chains, they are both radiogenic and radioactive. Because their abundances are normally quoted as activity ratios rather than atomic ratios, they are best considered separately from the other radiogenic isotope systems. Uranium is well mixed in the ocean, and its decay produces Pa and