  Relatively low energy and very enhanced alpha-particle groups have been
observed in various actinide fractions produced via secondary reactions in a
CERN W target which had been irradiated with 24-GeV protons. In particular,
5.14, 5.27 and 5.53 MeV alpha-particle groups with corresponding half-lives of
3.8(+ -)1.0 y, 625(+ -)84 d and 26(+ -)7 d, have been seen in Bk, Es and Lr-No
sources, respectively. The measured energies are a few MeV lower than the known
g.s. to g.s. alpha-decays in the corresponding neutron-deficient actinide
nuclei. The half-lives are 4 to 7 orders of magnitude shorter than expected
from the systematics of alpha-particle decay in this region of nuclei. The
deduced evaporation residue cross sections are in the mb region, about 4 orders
of magnitude higher than expected. A consistent interpretation of the data is
given in terms of production of long-lived isomeric states in the second and
third wells of the potential-energy surfaces of the parent nuclei, which decay
to the corresponding wells in the daughters. The possibility that the isomeric
states in the third minimum are actually the true or very near the true ground
states of the nuclei, and consequences regarding the production of the
long-lived superheavy elements, are discussed.
