40Ar/39Ar Geochronology and stable isotope geochemistry of Late-Hercynian intrusions from north-eastern Iberia with implications for argon loss in K-feldspar

The cooling history of Hercynian calc-alkalic, post-kinematic plutonic intrusions of the Montnegre massif (NE Spain) has been determined by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analysis of two hornblendes, four biotites and eight K-feldspars (Kfs). The hornblendes have ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar total fusion ages of 291Dž Ma and define the magmatic cooling of the basic and oldest structural intrusions. The biotites from the acid and intermediate rocks have ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 285Dž Ma, which date cooling of the intrusions through argon closure in biotite. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of the K-feldspars vary widely, ranging from 276-191 Ma. A correlation between K-feldspar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar total fusion age and several other features such as structural state, microstructures indicated by obliquity and, to some degree, optically visible perthites, is consistent with post-crystallisation partial argon loss in the K-feldspars. The 'D values of the biotites also correlate with age and chlorite contents, but this is not so for the '¹⁸O values of either feldspar or quartz. We infer that most microtextural changes occurred during cooling of the batholith, but a possibly Mesozoic, late disturbing hydrothermal event of weak intensity and with only minor fluid circulation must have occurred. This event provoked significant argon loss in the most structurally complex K-feldspars and is recorded in the hydrogen, but not oxygen, isotope data.     

In-situ UV-laser <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar geochronology of a micaceous mylonite : an example of defect-enhanced argon loss

Muscovite and biotite from a crustal-scale mylonite zone (Pogallo Shear Zone, southern Alps) were investigated using furnace step-heating and in-situ UV-laser ablation ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology. Undeformed muscovite porphyroclasts yield ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 182.0ǃ.6 Ma, whereas in-situ UV-laser ablation ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and furnace step-heating of strongly deformed muscovite and biotite grains display a range of apparent ages that are systematically younger. The range of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages measured in the deformed muscovite and biotite is consistent with protracted cooling through argon closure in minerals that exhibit variably developed segmentation on the intra-grain scale. These microstructurally controlled segments are bound by either first-order lattice discontinuities, sub-microscopic structural defects and/or zones of high defect density, which create variable length-scales for intragranular argon diffusion. The observed deformational microstructures within muscovite and biotite acted as intra-grain fast diffusion pathways in the slowly cooled mylonitic rocks. Therefore, the high-spatial resolution ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data record the initial and final closure to argon diffusion over a time span of about 60 Ma.     

大别山东端郯庐断裂带由走滑向伸展运动转换的40Ar-39Ar年代学记录

通过对大别山东端郯庐左旋韧性剪切带中一系列含白云母、黑云母、斜长石和钾长石的糜棱岩样品⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar同位素年代学研究,发现大别山东端的郯庐断裂带在距今139Ma之前发生过一次左行平移运动,随后转变为伸展活动,由走滑向伸展活动转换的时间介于距今139Ma至128Ma之间。在伸展活动中,大别山东端的郯庐走滑韧性剪切带发生了缓慢的抬升和冷却,从而导致封闭温度较低的矿物记录了较小的年龄。黑云母110Ma±以及斜长石97~92Ma的⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar年龄值指示郯庐断裂带的伸展活动一直持续到距今90Ma±。     

40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital muscovite and whole-rock slate/phyllite,Narragansett Basin,RI-MA,USA: implications for rejuvenation during very low-grade metamorphism

Late Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks in the Narragansett basin were metamorphosed (lower anchizone to sillimanite grade) during late Paleozoic regional metamorphism at ca. 275–280 Ma. Twenty-five variably sized concentrates of detrital muscovite were prepared from samples collected within contrasting low-grade areas (diagenesis — lower greenschist facies). Microprobe analyses suggest that the constituent detrital grains are not chemically internally zoned; however, some grains within several concentrates display very narrow (<25 m), compositionally distinct, low-grade, epitaxial peripheral overgrowths. Detrital muscovite concentrates from the lower anchizone are characterized by internally concordant ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age spectra which define plateau ages of ca. 350–360 Ma. These are interpreted to date post-Devonian (Acadian) cooling within proximal source areas. Concentrates from lower grade sectors of the middle anchizone display slightly discordant spectra in which apparent ages systematically increase from ca. 250–275 Ma to define intermediate- and high-temperature plateaus of ca. 360–400 Ma. Detrital muscovite within samples from higher grade sectors of the middle anchizone and the upper anchizone are characterized by systematic low age discordance throughout both low-and intermediate-temperature increments. High-temperature ages only range up to ca. 330 Ma. Six size fractions of detrital muscovite from a sample collected within the lower greenschist facies have similarly discordant spectra, in which, apparent ages increase slightly throughout the analyses from ca. 250 Ma to 275 Ma. The detrital muscovite results are interpreted to reflect variable affects of late Paleozoic regional metamorphism. However, it is uncertain to what extent the systematic low age spectra discordance reflects intracrystalline gradients in the concentration of ⁴⁰Ar and/or experimental evolution of gas from relatively non-retentive epitaxial overgrowths. However, low age discordance occurs regardless of the extent of epitaxial overgrowth. Intermediate-temperature increments evolved during ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar whole-rock analyses of five slate/phyllite samples are characterized by internally consistent apparent K/Ca ratios. These are attributed to gas evolved from constituent, very fine-grained white mica. Samples from lower grade portions of the middle anchizone are characterized by intermediate-temperature apparent ages which systematically increase from ca. 275–300 Ma to ca. 360–375 Ma before evolution of a high-temperature contribution from detrital plagioclase feldspar. This age variation may reflect partial late Paleozoic rejuvenation of very fine-grained detrital material with a source age similar to that for the detrital muscovites. Slate/phyllite samples from upper sectors of the middle anchizone and from the upper anchizone were completely rejuvenated during late Paleozoic metamorphism and record intermediate-and high-temperature plateau ages of ca. 270–290 Ma. These data document that metamorphic conditions of the lower to middle biotite zone (ca. 325–350 °C) are required to completely rejuvenate intracrystalline argon systems of detrital muscovite. Therefore, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating method may be useful in determination of detrital muscovite provenance and in resolution of the metamorphic evolution of low-grade terranes.     

Highly retentive core domains in K-feldspar and their implications for 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology illustrated by determining the cooling curve for the Capoas Granite,Palawan, The Philippines

K-feldspar from the late Miocene Capoas Granite on Palawan in The Philippines appears to contain highly retentive diffusion domains that are closed to argon diffusion at near-solidus temperatures during cooling of this ～7 km-diameter pluton. This is an important result, for K-feldspar is commonly considered not retentive in terms of its ability to retain argon. Closure temperatures for argon diffusion in K-feldspars are routinely claimed to be in the range ～150–400°C but the release of ³⁹Ar from irradiated K-feldspar during furnace step-heating experiments in vacuo yields Arrhenius data that imply the existence of highly retentive core domains, with inferred closure temperatures that can exceed ～500–700°C. These high closure temperatures from the Capoas Granite K-feldspar are consistent with the coincidence of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages with U–Pb zircon ages at ca 13.5 ± 0.2 Ma. The cooling rate then accelerated, but the rate of change had considerably slowed by ca 12 Ma. Low-temperature (U–Th)/He thermochronology shows that the cooling rate once again accelerated at ca 11 Ma, perhaps owing to renewed tectonic activity.     

Systematic analysis of K-feldspar Ar/Ar step heating results II: relevance of laboratory argon diffusion properties to nature

We examine a database containing the results of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating experiments performed on 194 basement K-feldspars to recover thermal history information. Qualitative examination of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar systematics reveals that about half of the K-feldspars examined are sufficiently well behaved to be suitable for thermal history analysis. Correlation algorithms are developed to quantitatively assess the degree to which age and ³⁹Ar release spectra are compatible with the same volume diffusion process. Upon applying these methods, we find that 65% of all samples yield correlation coefficients in excess of 0.8, whereas roughly 40% give values above 0.9. We further compare the observed correlation behavior with that predicted from the multidiffusion domain model and find good agreement for samples with correlation coefficients above 0.9. In contrast, hydrous phases unstable under in vacuo heating and K-feldspars with highly disturbed age spectra yield poorly correlated age and diffusion properties. The high degree of correlation exhibited by the majority of K-feldspars we have analyzed validates extrapolation of experimentally determined diffusion properties to conditions attending natural Ar loss within the crust. Despite this, a significant number of basement K-feldspars analyzed by the step-heating method yield ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar systematics that are clearly problematic for thermal history analysis. We numerically explore the effects of low-temperature alteration of K-feldspar on thermochronological analysis and identify a range of conditions under which information is progressively lost. Finally, we demonstrate the insensitivity of thermal history calculations to detailed knowledge of the diffusion mechanism by introducing the heterogeneous diffusion model. We find that the multidiffusion domain approach can successfully recover imposed thermal histories from heterogeneous diffusion-type crystals and conclude that most details of the interpretive model employed are of secondary importance. The only requirement for recovering thermal histories from K-feldspar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating results is that argon loss proceeds by volume diffusion and that laboratory argon release adequately mimics the natural diffusion boundaries and mechanisms—a requirement implicitly met by those samples exhibiting high degrees of correlation.     

Detrital K‐feldspar 40Ar/39Ar Ages: Source Constraints of the Lower Miocene Sandstones in the Pearl River Mouth Basin,South China Sea

The South China Sea began to outspread in the Oligocene. A great quantity of terraneous detritus was deposited in the northern continental shelf of the sea, mostly in Pearl River Mouth Basin, which constituted the main paleo-Pearl River Delta. The delta developed for a long geological time and formed a superimposed area. Almost all the oil and gas fields of detrital rock reservoir distribute in this delta. Thirty-three oil sandstone core samples in the Zhujiang Formation, lower Miocene (23–16 Ma), were collected from nine wells. The illite samples with detrital K feldspar (Kfs) separated from these sandstone cores in four sub-structural belts were analysed by the high-precision 40Ar/39Ar laser stepwise heating technique. All 33 illite 40Ar/39Ar data consistently yielded gradually rising age spectra at the low-temperature steps until reaching age plateaus at mid-high temperature steps. The youngest ages corresponding to the beginning steps were interpreted as the hydrocarbon accumulation ages and the plateau ages in mid-high temperature steps as the contributions of the detrital feldspar representing the ages of the granitic parent rocks in the provenances. The ages of the detrital feldspar from the Zhujiang Formation in the four sub-structural belts were different: (1) the late Cretaceous ages in the Lufeng 13 fault structural belt; (2) the late Cretaceous and early Cretaceous-Jurassic ages in the Huizhou 21 buried hill-fault belt; (3) the Jurassic and Triassic ages in the Xijiang 24 buried hill-fault belt; and (4) the early Cretaceous – late Jurassic ages in the Panyu 4 oil area. These detrital feldspar 40Ar/39Ar ages become younger and younger from west to east, corresponding to the age distribution of the granites in the adjacent Guangdong Province, Southern China.     

40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar age constraints on the timing of regional deformation,south coast of New South Wales,Lachlan Fold Belt: Problems and implications

Four slate samples from subduction complex rocks exposed on the south coast of New South Wales, south of Batemans Bay, were analysed by K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step‐heating methods. One sample contains relatively abundant detrital muscovite flakes that are locally oblique to the regional cleavage in the rock, whereas the remaining samples appear to contain sparse detrital muscovite. Separates of detrital muscovite yielded plateau ages of 505 ± 3 Ma and 513 ± 3 Ma indicating that inheritance has not been eliminated by metamorphism and recrystallisation. Step‐heating analyses of whole‐rock chips from all four slate samples produced discordant apparent age spectra with ‘saddle shapes’ following young apparent ages at the lowest temperature increments. Elevated apparent ages associated with the highest temperature steps are attributed to the presence of variable quantities of detrital muscovite (<1–5%). Two whole‐rock slate samples yielded similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar integrated ages of ca 455 Ma, which are some 15–30 million years older than K–Ar ages for the same samples. These discrepancies suggest that the slates have also been affected by recoil loss/redistribution of ³⁹Ar, leading to anomalously old ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages. Two other samples, from slaty tectonic mélange and intensely cleaved slate, yielded average ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar integrated ages of ca 424 Ma, which are closer to associated mean K–Ar ages of 423 ± 4 Ma and 409 ± 16 Ma, respectively. Taking into account the potential influences of recoil loss/redistribution of ³⁹Ar and inheritance, the results from the latter samples suggest a maximum age of ca 440 Ma for deformation/metamorphism. The current results indicate that recoil and inheritance problems may also have affected whole‐rock ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data reported from other regions of the Lachlan Fold Belt. Therefore, until these effects are adequately quantified, models for the evolution of the Lachlan Fold Belt, that are based on such whole‐rock ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data, should be treated with caution.     

Cooling of a Late-Syn Orogenic Pluton: Evidence from Laser K-feldspar Modelling of the Carion Granite,Madagascar

Since the late 1980s, it has been hypothesized that the wide range of apparent argon ages seen within single K-feldspar samples might be due to a distribution of diffusion domain sizes within the mineral. To test and apply this idea, an analytical technique that combines conventional laboratory degassing experiments (resistance heating) with numerical inversion procedures has been developed to extract cooling history information from feldspars. A key part of the method involves careful control of temperature in the laboratory to constrain the diffusion parameters of the feldspar samples. In our study, we have K-feldspar data from single crystals that mimic the types of data seen in classic resistance heater fusion experiments. Our step-heating data are based on using a continuous argon-ion laser with no direct control on temperature. However, with only a single added free parameter in the model, we show that it is possible to analyze this data in the multi-domain style, and make some simple inferences on the nature of the cooling history of the Carion pluton in central Madagascar. The Carion granitic pluton in central Madagascar was intruded into warm continental crust following orogenic events related to the final amalgamation of Gondwana. U-Pb SHRIMP dating of the pluton yields an emplacement age of 532.1 ± 5.2 Ma followed by relatively slow cooling as constrained by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on hornblende, biotite and K-feldspar. Four hornblende samples yielded a mean ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 512.7 ± 2.6 Ma. A biotite sample yielded an age of 478.9 ± 1.0 Ma and modeled K-feldspar ages show cooling from 350° C at 466 Ma to 100° C by 410 Ma. Collectively, the data suggest that the pluton cooled from 850° C at 532.1 ± 5.2 (U-Pb zircon) Ma to 500° C at 512.7 ± 2.6 Ma (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende), or approximately 18 °C/Ma slowing to ∼4 °C/Ma between 512 Ma and 478 Ma and finally to about 3°C/Ma between 478 and 410 Ma.     

Ar loss in experimentally deformed muscovite and biotite with implications for Ar/Ar geochronology of naturally deformed rocks

The effects of deformation on radiogenic argon (⁴⁰Ar^∗) retentivity in mica are described from high pressure experiments performed on rock samples of peraluminous granite containing euhedral muscovite and biotite. Cylindrical cores, ∼15 mm in length and 6.25 mm in diameter, were drilled from granite collected from the South Armorican Massif in northwestern France, loaded into gold capsules, and weld-sealed in the presence of excess water. The samples were deformed at a pressure of 10 kb and a temperature of 600 °C over a period 29 of hours within a solid medium assembly in a Griggs-type triaxial hydraulic deformation apparatus. Overall shortening in the experiments was approximately 10%. Transmitted light and secondary and backscattered electron imaging of the deformed granite samples reveals evidence of induced defects and for significant physical grain size reduction by kinking, cracking, and grain segmentation of the micas.Infrared (IR) laser (CO₂) heating of individual 1.5-2.5 mm diameter grains of muscovite and biotite separated from the undeformed granite yield well-defined ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 311 ± 2 Ma (2σ). Identical experiments on single grains separated from the experimentally deformed granite yield results indicating ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss of 0-35% in muscovite and 2-3% ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss in biotite. Intragrain in situ ultraviolet (UV) laser ablation ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages (±4-10%, 1σ) of deformed muscovites range from 309 ± 13 to 264 ± 7 Ma, consistent with 0-16% ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss relative to the undeformed muscovite. The in situ UV laser ablation ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of deformed biotite vary from 301 to 217 Ma, consistent with up to 32% ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss. No spatial correlation is observed between in situ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age and position within individual grains. Using available argon diffusion data for muscovite the observed ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss in the experimentally treated muscovite can be utilized to predict average ⁴⁰Ar^∗ diffusion dimensions. Maximum ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages obtained by UV laser ablation overlap those of the undeformed muscovite, indicating argon loss of <1% and an average effective grain radius for ⁴⁰Ar^∗ diffusion ?700 μm. The UV laser ablation and IR laser incremental ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages indicating ⁴⁰Ar^∗ loss of 16% and 35%, respectively, are consistent with an average diffusion radius ?100 μm. These results support a hypothesis of grain-scale ⁴⁰Ar^∗ diffusion distances in undeformed mica and a heterogeneous mechanical reduction in the intragrain effective diffusion length scale for ⁴⁰Ar^∗ in deformed mica. Reduction in the effective diffusion length scale in naturally deformed samples occurs most probably through production of mesoscopic and submicroscopic defects such as, e.g., stacking faults. A network of interconnected defects, continuously forming and annealing during dynamic deformation likely plays an important role in controlling both ⁴⁰Ar^∗ retention and intragrain distribution in deformed mica. Intragrain ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages, when combined with estimates of diffusion kinetics and distances, may provide a means of establishing thermochronological histories from individual micas.     

甘肃花牛山东钾长花岗岩40Ar/39Ar同位素年龄及其地质意义

对甘肃花牛山东复式花岗岩体中钾长花岗岩的钾长石进行了详细的⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar同位素年龄测定,11个加热阶段所获数据构成-条相关关系非常好的直线,其对应的等时线年龄为194.25±1.96 Ma(2σ).⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar初始值为288.87±2.17(2σ),接近于尼尔值(295.5).鉴于该岩体形成之后未受到明显的构造-岩浆活动或其它热事件的影响,因此,194 Ma代表了钾长花岗岩钾长石的形成时代.花牛山东钾长花岗岩是燕山早期构造-岩浆活动的产物.由此推断,花牛山地区构造-岩浆活动时间不是印支期,更不是海西期,而是中生代燕山早期.     

Comparison between grain size and multi-mineral Ar/Ar thermochronology

In the case of volume diffusion, the closure temperature of a mineral is function of, among other factors, the characteristic diffusion dimension, which can be approximated by the grain size of the mineral analysed for grains smaller than or similar in size to the diffusion domains. The theoretical possibility of single mineral grain size thermochronology had been demonstrated empirically in earlier studies, mostly using biotite. In order to examine the potential of this method, it was tested alongside the widely used multi-mineral ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology. The sample comes from the granitic McLean pluton, in the south section of the Grenville orogeny. Seven grain size separates of biotite (ranging between 90 and 1000 μm), eight size fractions of amphibole (between 63 and 1000 μm), and three size fractions of K-feldspar (250-600 μm) were extracted and dated by the laser step-heating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method. The total gas ages obtained behave as theoretically predicted, with increasing ages for increasing grain sizes, including for K-feldspar, but with the exception of the smallest and the largest grains for biotite and amphibole. The calculated cooling rates are ca. 0.7 °C/Ma for K-feldspar, ca. 2.5 °C/Ma for biotite, and ca. 11 °C/Ma for amphibole, corresponding very well to a monotonic cooling of the McLean pluton. A quick initial thermal re-equilibration with the cooler host-rocks is followed by a much slower cooling on a thermal path parallel to that of the Frontenac Terrain situated immediately to the southeast. The validity of the single mineral grain size thermochronology is demonstrated by comparison with the thermal evolution of the adjacent units and with the cooling history derived from a multi-mineral thermochronology, suggesting that it can be routinely used. The application of this method can be hampered by insufficiently low analytical uncertainties.     

根据40Ar/39Ar年龄谱探讨陨石冲击事件的分期

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar年龄谱是研究陨石冲击事件的重要资料。根据对55块陨石⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar冲击年龄和陨石暴露年龄的分析,发现陨石的冲击年龄与陨石类型之间存在对应关系。据此,将陨石冲击事件划分为九期。其中3900-4000Ma、470-540Ma和小于65Ma是陨石母体的三个重要演化阶段。阶段Ⅰ、Ⅱ和Ⅲ(冲击年龄大于30亿年)主要涉及高钙型无球粒陨石。所有球粒陨石的冲击年龄均小于30亿年。陨石暴露年龄因类型而异,铁陨石最大,石铁陨石次之,石陨石最小。     

Behaviour of biotites,amphiboles, plagioclases and K-feldspars in response to tectonic events with the 40Ar-39Ar radiometric method. Example of Corsican granite

Alpine deformation of Variscan granites in Corsica has resulted in fundamentally disturbing effects in minerals with regard to ³⁹Ar-⁴⁰Ar systematics. These deformational effects, as studied in quartz, biotite, feldspar, show an evolution in their development which is related to the intensity of deformation.Amphibole yields very disturbed age spectra, with loss of radiogenic Ar in low temperature steps, excess radiogenic Ar in intermediate temperature steps and undisturbed ages in high temperature steps. These effects similarly increase with the intensity of deformation.Biotite also shows disturbed spectra; we suggest that deformation induces equal loss of radiogenic Ar from all domains in this mineral and that this loss increases with the intensity of deformation. Only less-deformed biotite gives geologically significant age spectra.Spectra of deformed K-feldspar give results similar to those disturbed by thermal events. The most deformed K-feldspar gives high temperature spectra of Alpine age. High temperature steps however do not give the true age of the granite regardless of deformational intensity. Age spectra of plagioclase are quite disturbed and give geologically meaningless results. These results thus demonstrate the influence of deformation on the relative retentivities of terrestrial minerals.     

Inclined K–Ar illite age spectra in brittle fault gouges: effects of fault reactivation and wall‐rock contamination

K–Ar clay fraction ages of brittle faults often vary with grain size, decreasing in the finer size fractions, producing an inclined age–grain‐size spectrum. K–Ar ages and mineralogical characterization of gouges from two normal faults in the Kongsberg silver mines, southern Norway, suggest that inclined spectra derived from brittle fault rocks reflect the mixing of inherited components with authigenic mineral phases. The ages of the coarsest and finest fractions constrain faulting at c. 260–270 Ma and reactivation around 200–210 Ma, respectively. This study demonstrates how wall‐rock contamination influences the K–Ar age of the coarsest size fractions and that authigenic illite and K‐feldspar can crystallize synkinematically under equivalent conditions and thus yield the same K–Ar ages.     

The DAV and Periadriatic fault systems in the Eastern Alps south of the Tauern window

Alpine deformation of Austroalpine units south of the Tauern window is dominated by two kinematic regimes. Prior to intrusion of the main Periadriatic plutons at ~30 Ma, the shear sense was sinistral in the current orientation, with a minor north-side-up component. Sinistral shearing locally overprints contact metamorphic porphyroblasts and early Periadriatic dykes. Direct Rb-Sr dating of microsampled synkinematic muscovite gave ages in the range 33-30 Ma, whereas pseudotachylyte locally crosscutting the mylonitic foliation gave an interpreted ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar age of ~46 Ma. The transition from sinistral to dextral (transpressive) kinematics related to the Periadriatic fault occurred rapidly, between solidification of the earlier dykes and of the main plutons. Subsequent brittle-ductile to brittle faults are compatible with N-S to NNW-SSE shortening and orogen-parallel extension. Antithetic Riedel shears are distinguished from the previous sinistral fabric by their fine-grained quartz microstructures, with local pseudotachylyte formation. One such pseudotachylyte from Speikboden gave a ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar age of 20 Ma, consistent with pseudotachylyte ages related to the Periadriatic fault. The magnitude of dextral offset on the Periadriatic fault cannot be directly estimated. However, the jump in zircon and apatite fission-track ages establishes that the relative vertical displacement was ~4-5 km since 24 Ma, and that movement continued until at least 13 Ma.     

Fold dating: A new Ar/Ar illite dating application to constrain the age of deformation in shallow crustal rocks

We propose a deformation dating method that combines XRD quantification and Ar chronology of submicroscopic illite to determine the absolute ages of folds that contain clay-bearing layers. Two folds in the frontal segment of the Mexican Fold-Thrust Belt (MFTB), which was deformed from Late Cretaceous to Eocene, are used to illustrate the method and its future potential.Variations in mineral composition, illite-polytype, crystallite-size (CS) and Ar total gas ages were analyzed in the limbs and hinge of two mesoscopic folds. This analysis examines potential effects of strain variation on illitization and the Ar isotopic system along folded layers, versus possible regional thermal overprints. The Ar total-gas ages for 9 samples in Fold 1 vary between 48.4 and 43.9 Ma. The % of 2M₁ (detrital) illite vs. Ar total-gas ages tightly constrains the age of folding at 43.5 ± 0.3 Ma. Nine ages from three samples in Fold 2 range from 76.2 to 62.7 Ma, which results in a folding age of 63.9 ± 2.2 Ma. Both ages are in excellent agreement with more broadly constrained stratigraphic timing. The method offers a novel approach to radiometric dating of clay-bearing folds formed at very low-grade metamorphic conditions, and has the potential to constrain dates and rates of regional and local deformation along and across foreland orogenic belts.     

Microtextures of authigenic Or-rich feldspar in the Upper Jurassic Humber Group, UK North Sea

ABSTRACT Detrital alkali feldspars currently at burial depths of 3·2–3·5 km in the Upper Jurassic Humber Group of the Fulmar oilfield, UK North Sea, are overgrown and have been partially replaced by authigenic Or‐rich feldspar. Intracrystal microtextures suggest several different provenances for the detrital grains. The overgrowths are uniformly non‐cathodoluminescent and have occasional celsian‐rich zones. Transmission electron microscopy shows that they are composed of a microporous mosaic of subµm‐ to µm‐sized sub‐grains associated with barite, illite and pyrite. The subgrains are somewhat rounded but have an approximate {110} Adularia habit and display a faint modulated microtexture on the nanometre scale. They have triclinic symmetry, but the lattice angles depart only slightly from monoclinic symmetry. These features are characteristic of K‐feldspar precipitated relatively rapidly and at low temperature. Authigenic Or‐rich feldspar has also partially replaced microcline and perthitic albite within the detrital grains, often at a suboptical scale. Although, like diagenetic albitization, replacement by K‐feldspar is probably a very common diagenetic reaction, it has rarely been reported owing to difficulties in imaging the diagnostic textures with the scanning electron microscopy techniques used by most workers. The permeability of the subgrain microtexture may significantly hinder the use of feldspar overgrowths for K/Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of diagenesis, and the existence of suboptical, replacive authigenic K‐feldspar within detrital grains may significantly modify the apparent Ar ages of detrital grains. Similar subgrain microtextures in optically featureless quartz overgrowths are also illustrated.     

40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital white mica from Upper Austroalpine units in the Eastern Alps, Austria: Evidence for Cadomian and contrasting Variscan sources

Five detrital white mica concentrates from very low-grade, metaclastic sequences within pre-Variscan basement and post-Variscan cover units of the Upper Austroalpine Nappe Complex (Eastern Alps) have been dated with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar incremental heating techniques to constrain the age of tectonothermal events in their respective source areas. Two samples from early Palaeozoic sandstone exposed within the same Alpine nappe record slightly discordant age spectra. The maximum age recorded in one is 562.2±0.7?Ma, whereas the other yielded a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 607.3±0.3?Ma. These results indicate a source area affected by Cadomian tectonothermal activity. Three detrital muscovite concentrates from post-Variscan, Late Carboniferous and Permian cover sequences exposed within three different Alpine nappes yielded ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 359.6?±?1.1?Ma, 310.5±1.2?Ma, and 303.3±0.2?Ma. The contrasting detrital white mica ages are interpreted to reflect different source areas. Detrital muscovite from a post-Variscan Carboniferous molasse-type sequence and from a Permian Verrucano-type sequence record ages which indicate “late” Variscan (e.g. 330–300?Ma) metamorphic sources. By contrast, detrital white mica from another Permian Verrucano-type sequence suggests a source area affected by “early” Variscan (e.g. 400–360?Ma) metamorphism. These results help clarify palinspastic relationships and tectonic correlations between pre-Late Carboniferous metamorphic basement sequences and Carboniferous to Permian cover sequences.     

Comparison of 40Ar-39Ar and Rb-Sr Data on Phengites from the UHP Brossasco-Isasca Unit (Dora Maira Massif, Italy): Implications for Dating White Mica

Different lithologies (impure marble, eclogite and graniticorthogneiss) sampled from a restricted area of the coesite-bearingBrossasco–Isasca Unit (Dora Maira Massif) have been investigatedto examine the behaviour of ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar and Rb–Srsystems in phengites developed under ultrahigh-pressure (UHP)metamorphism. Mineralogical and petrological data indicate thatzoned phengites record distinct segments of the P–T path:prograde, peak to early retrograde in the marble, peak to earlyretrograde in the eclogite, and late retrograde in the orthogneiss.Besides major element zoning, ion microprobe analysis of phengitein the marble also reveals a pronounced zoning of trace elements(including Rb and Sr). ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar apparent ages (35–62Ma, marble; 89–170 Ma, eclogite; 35–52 Ma, orthogneiss),determined through Ar laserprobe data on phengites (step-heatingand in situ techniques), show wide intra-sample and inter-samplevariations closely linked to within-sample microchemical variations:apparent ages decrease with decreasing celadonite contents.These data confirm previous reports on excess Ar and, more significantly,highlight that phengite acted as a closed system in the differentlithologies and that chemical exchange, not volume diffusion,was the main factor controlling the rate of Ar transport. Conversely,a Rb–Sr internal isochron from the same eclogite yieldsan age of 36 Ma, overlapping with the time of the UHP metamorphicpeak determined through U–Pb data and thereby corroboratingthe previous conclusion that UHP metamorphism and early retrogressionoccurred in close succession. Different phengite fractions ofthe marble yield calcite–phengite isochron ages of 36to 60 Ma. Although this time interval matches Ar ages from thesame sample, Rb–Sr data from phengite are not entirelyconsistent with the whole dataset. According to trace elementvariations in phengite, only Rb–Sr data from two wet-groundphengite separates, yielding ages of 36 and 41 Ma, are internallyconsistent. The oldest age obtained from a millimetre-sizedgrain fraction enriched in prograde–peak phengites mayrepresent a minimum age estimate for the prograde phengite relics.Results highlight the potential of the in situ ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Arlaser technique in resolving discrete P–T stages experiencedby eclogite-facies rocks (provided that excess Ar is demonstrablya negligible factor), and confirm the potential of Rb–Srinternal mineral isochrons in providing precise crystallizationages for eclogite-facies mineral assemblages. KEY WORDS: ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar dating; Rb–Sr dating; phengite; SIMS; UHP metamorphism