The Search for Supernova-produced Radionuclides in Terrestrial Deep-sea Archives

An enhanced concentration of ⁶⁰Fe was found in a deep ocean's crust in 2004 in a layer corresponding to an age of ~2 Myr. The conrmation of this signal in terrestrial archives as supernovainduced and detection of other supernova-produced radionuclides is of great interest. We will investigate a marine sediment from the South Australian Basin to search for live ²⁶Al, ⁶⁰Fe, ⁵³Mn, ⁶⁰Be and the pure r-process element ²⁴⁴Pu. A possible nding of these radionuclides in a sediment core might allow us to improve the time resolution of the signal and thus to link the signal to a supernova event in the solar vicinity ~2 Myr ago. Furthermore, we might get an insight on nucleosynthesis scenarios in massive stars, the condensation into dust grains and transport mechanisms from the supernova-shell into the solar system.