Seeing is believing: Visualization of He distribution in zircon and implications for thermal history reconstruction on single crystals.

ABSTRACT: Zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry is an established radiometric dating technique used to place temporal constraints on a range of thermally sensitive geological events, such as crustal exhumation, volcanism, meteorite impact, and ore genesis. Isotopic, crystallographic, and/or mineralogical heterogeneities within analyzed grains can result in dispersed or anomalous (U-Th)/He ages. Understanding the effect of these grain-scale phenomena on the distribution of He in analyzed minerals should lead to improvements in data interpretation. We combine laser ablation microsampling and noble gas and trace element mass spectrometry to provide the first two-dimensional, grain-scale zircon He "maps" and quantify intragrain He distribution. These maps illustrate the complexity of intracrystalline He di

SUBMITTER: Danisik M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5302874 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature