Finely crushed (<125 μm) olivines have significantly lower 3He/4He ratios than coarse fractions (>200 μm).
These low ratios are interpreted as “surface-controlled” atmospheric contamination.
In vacuo heating at 900 °C is not sufficient to completely remove the adsorbed component.
This anomalous adsorption involves irreversible high-energy subsurface trapping (‘lobster-pot’ trapping).
Fine fractions (<125 μm) should be avoided to avoid contaminating the noble gas inventory of silicates.