Recent  

SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe) is a instrument that for decades has used the radioactive decay of uranium into lead to measure geologic time. The accuracy adn precision of this instrument has not been seriously reviewed in almost 20 years. This paper compares several dozen SHRIMP ages in our database with more accurate and precise methods to assess SHRIMP accuracy and precision. Analytical and geologic complications are addressed to try to improve the method.

If topographical obstructions are present in the surroundings of sampling sites, exposure ages of rock surfaces need to be corrected. A toolbox for the ESRI ArcGIS software allows for quantifying topographic shielding with a digital elevation model, but it has only been validated with few field data. In this study, the output of the toolbox is evaluated with a more extensive dataset. If suitable elevation data is chosen, the toolbox provides a sound approach to determine topographic shielding.

Acid leaching is commonly used to remove damaged portions of zircon crystals prior to U-Pb dating. However, a basic understanding of the microstructural processes that occur during leaching is lacking. We present the first 3D view of zircon dissolution based on X-ray computed tomography data acquired before and after acid leaching. These data are paired with images of etched grain surfaces and Raman spectral data. We also reveal exciting opportunities for imaging radiation damage zoning in 3D.

In situ ¹⁴C’s short half-life (5.7 ky) is unique among cosmogenic nuclides, making it sensitive to complex exposure/burial histories since 25 ka. Current extraction methods focus on quartz, but the ability to extract it from other minerals would expand applications. We developed MATLAB^® scripts to calculate in situ ¹⁴C production rates from a broad range of mineral compositions. Results confirm O, Si, Al, and Mg as key targets, but also find significant production from Na for the first time.

Deposits left behind by past glacial activity provide insight into the previous size and behavior of glaciers, and act as another line of evidence for past climate. Here we present new age control for glacial deposits in the mountains of Montana and Wyoming, United States. While some deposits indicate glacial activity within the last 2000 years, others are shown to be older than previously thought, thus redefining the extent of regional Holocene glaciation.

We constrained deposition phases of fluvial sediments (NE Belgium) over the last 1 Ma with analysis and modelling of rare isotopes accumulation within sediments, occuring in function of time and inverse function of depth. They allowed the determination of 3 superposed deposition phases and intercalated non-deposition periods of ~ 40 kyr each. These phases correspond to 20% of the sediment age, which highlights the importance to consider deposition phase when dating fluvial sediments.

There is currently no standardized method of performing uncertainty propagation in the (U-Th)/He system, causing difficulties in data interpretation. We present two methods of uncertainty propagation and describe a free, open-source software (HeCalc) to apply these methods. A compilation of real data using only analytical uncertainty, and 2 % and 5 % uncertainties in F_T yields respective median relative date uncertainties of 2.9 %, 3.3 % and 5.0 % for apatites and 1.7 %, 3.3 % and 5.0 % for zircons.

We developed code to automatically and semi-automatically measure dimensions of detrital mineral grains in reflected light images saved at LA-ICP-MS facilities that use Chromium targeting software. Our code uses trained deep learning models to segment grain-images with greater accuracy than is possible using other image segmentation techniques. We implement our code in user-accessible, ready-to-run Google Colab notebooks, links to which can be found at https://github.com/MCSitar/colab_zirc_dims.

Apatite helium thermochronology is a method used for dating the time at which a rock (and the apatite crystals contained within) cooled below a certain temperature, by measuring radioactive parent isotopes (uranium and thorium) and daughter isotopes (helium). This paper proposes a revision to a commonly used calculation that corrects raw data to account for instances when the analyzed apatite crystals are fragmented. It demonstrates the improved accuracy and precision of the proposed revision.