  With the example of the 229Th nucleus, which is the most likely candidate for
the creation frequency standard of a future, the dynamics of the interplay and
the relationship of various resonance conversion mechanisms is analyzed. As a
result, a solution is proposed for the so-called thorium puzzle, which
consisted of a contradiction between the experimental and theoretical lifetimes
of Th+ ions. First, the solution demonstrates the dependence of the lifetime of
the nuclear isomer on the ambient conditions. Second, it demonstrates the
leveling role of the fragmentation of the single-electron levels, which makes
the resonance amplification of the electron-nuclear interaction more likely.
Both of these trends lead to a probable decrease of the theoretical lifetime
towards agreement with experiment.
