The rare earth concentrations in vegetables (corn, potatoes, peas, and butternut squash) were found to be extremely low: 10-8 g/g to 10-10 g/g. The chondritic normalized vegetable REE patterns are fractionated, including a negative Eu anomaly, and behave as a smooth function of the REE ionic radii. These patterns may be governed by the geochemistry of accessory minerals in the host soils. The depletion factors for various elements by vegetables relative to bulk soils are approx. 10-4 for REE, Hf, Ta, Th, and U; approx. 10-3 for Al, As, Ba, Cr, Fe, Mn, Sc, Se, And Sr; approx. 10-2 for Co, Cs, Na, Ni, and Sb; approx. 10-1 for Rb; and approx. 1 for K, Zn, and Br.

This report summarizes the progress of the participating laboratories in the interdisciplinary research program in southeastern Montana in and around the area of Colstrip. The interdisciplinary research team consists of investigators from the following institutions and laboratories: (1) Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, (2) Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington, (3) Reclamation Research Laboratory, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, and (4) Environmental Studies Laboratory, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.

The potassium:argon age of the metal phase of Weekeroo Station iron meteorite, determined by neutronactivation analysis, is about 10^10 years; it is similar to ages previously measured for other iron meteorites, but distinctly disagrees with a strontium: rubidium age of 4.7 X 10^9 years measured by other workers on silicate inclusions in this meteorite.