Concordia and discordia

Another coupled system is the Sm-Nd system, with two Sm isotopes ( Sm and Sm) undergoing ot-decay to become two Nd isotopes ( Nd and Nd). The half-life of Sm is 106 billion years and that of is 103 million years. In principle, the concepts for the U-Pb system (such as concordia and discordia, Nd-Nd isochron) can also be applied to the Sm-Nd system. However, the Sm-Nd coupled system has not found many applications. One reason is that the half-life of " Sm is so short that it is an extinct nuclide. Secondly, the half-lives of Sm and " Sm are very different, by a factor of 1000 (in contrast, the half-lives of and 235 differ only by a factor of 6.3). Hence, the coupled system has found only limited applications to very old rocks, such as meteorites and very old terrestrial rocks. 

---