Radio emission and anomalous changes in electrical conductivity in heated rock and mineral specimens

1. On heating, the processes of dehydration, decrepitation, polymorphic transitions, etc. in rock and mineral specimens, i.e., transition of their crystal lattices to energetically more profitable states, cause the emission of electromagnetic radiation over a wide range of wavelengths. 2. In quartz, fluorite, and certain rocks containing these minerals, the decrease in electrical conductivity is due to decrepitation of gas-liquid inclusions. Decrepitation is accompanied by gas emission, fall in temperature, formation of microcracks, charging of cavities due to cleavage, electron emission, light flashes, sound pulses, and also electromagnetic vibration. 3. In electron irradiation the radiation acts primarily on geochemical inclusions in the minerals; therefore some of the thermoluminescence maxima coincide with the interval of decrepitation with anomalous changes in conductivity. Preliminary electron irradiation stimulates polymorphic transitions. During heating and cooling, the intensity of the electromagnetic pulses from rocks and minerals increase with the absorbed dose. 4. Further investigations will enable us to elucidate the possibility of using the method of measurement of the electrical conductivity and electromagnetic radiation to determine the temperatures of mineral formation and ore deposition and the degree of metasomatic change in rocks, and to study the physicochemical bases of control of rock breakage and thermal drilling.