Articles | Volume 3, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-35-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-35-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The use of ASH-15 flowstone as a matrix-matched reference material for laser-ablation U − Pb geochronology of calcite
Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yeshayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem, 9692100, Israel
Jörn-Frederik Wotzlaw
Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Maria Ovtcharova
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Anton Vaks
Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yeshayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem, 9692100, Israel
Ciprian Stremtan
Teledyne Photon Machines, 384 Gallatin Park Drive, Bozeman, MT 59715, USA
Martin Šala
Department of Analytical Chemistry, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nick M. W. Roberts
Geochronology and Tracers Facility, British Geological Survey, Environmental Science Centre, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK
Andrew R. C. Kylander-Clark
Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) offers micro-destructive, micrometer-scale impurity analysis of ice cores. For improved understanding of the LA-ICP-MS signals, novel 2D impurity imaging is applied to selected glacial and interglacial samples of Antarctic deep ice cores. This allows evaluating the 2D impurity distribution in relation to ice crystal features and assessing implications for investigating highly thinned climate proxy signals in deep polar ice.
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This paper serves as a guide to those interested in dating calcite by laser ablation. Within it are theoretical and practical limits of U and Pb concentrations (and U / Pb ratios), which would allow viable extraction of ages from calcite (and other minerals with moderate U / Pb ratios), and which type of instrumentation would be appropriate for any given sample. The method described uses a new detector array, allowing for lower detection limits and thereby expanding the range of viable samples.
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We characterise a well-known fractured and faulted exposure of Cretaceous chalk in NE England, combining field observations with novel U–Pb calcite dating. We show that the faulting and associated fluid flow occurred during the interval of ca. 64–56 Ma, predating earlier estimates of Alpine-related tectonic inversion. We demonstrate that the main extensional fault zone acted as a conduit linking voluminous fluid flow and linking deeper sedimentary layers with the shallow subsurface.
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Short summary
This contribution presents a new reference material, ASH-15 flowstone with an age of 2.965 ± 0.011 Ma (95 % CI), to be used for in situ U–Pb dating of carbonate material. The new age analyses include the use of the EARTHTIME isotopic tracers and a large number of sub-samples (n = 37) with small aliquots (1–7 mg) each that are more representative of laser-ablation spot analysis. The new results could improve the propagated uncertainties on the final age with a minimal value of 0.4 %.
This contribution presents a new reference material, ASH-15 flowstone with an age of...
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