40Ar/39Ar geochronology constraints on the Middle Tertiary basement extensional exhumation,and its relation to ore-forming and magmatic processes in the Eastern Rhodope (Bulgaria)

The interaction of distinct geologic processes involved during late orogenic extensional exhumation history of the metamorphic units in the Eastern Rhodope is refined by new and reviewing ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological and structural data. Minerals with different closure temperatures from metamorphic rocks investigated in this study are combined with those from magmatic and ore-forming hydrothermal rocks in two late stage metamorphic domes – the Kesebir-Kardamos and the Biala reka-Kehros domes. The 38-37 Ma muscovite and biotite cooling ages below 350°-300°C characterize basement metamorphic rocks that typified core of the Kesebir-Kardamos dome, constraining their exhumation at shallow crustal levels in the footwall of detachment. These ages are interpreted as reflecting last stage of ductile activity on shear zone below detachment, which continued to operate under low-temperature conditions within the semi-ductile to brittle field. They are close to and overlap with existing cooling ages in southern Bulgaria and northern Greece, indicating supportively that the basement rocks regionally cooled between 42-36 Ma below temperatures 350°-300°C. The spatial distribution of ages shows a southward gradual increase up structural section, suggesting an asymmetrical mode of extension, cooling and exhumation from south to the north at latitude of the Kesebir-Kardamos dome. The slightly younger 36.5-35 Ma crystallization ages of adularia in altered rocks from the ore deposits in the immediate hanging-wall of detachments are attributed to brittle deformation on high-angle normal faults, which further contributed to upper crustal extension, and thus constraining the time when alteration took place and deformation continued at brittle crustal levels. Silicic dykes yielded ages between 32-33 Ma, typically coinciding with the main phase of Palaeogene magmatic activity, which started in Eastern Rhodope region in Late Eocene (Priabonian) times. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages from the above distinct rock types span time interval lasting approximately ca. 6 Ma. Consequently, our geochronologic results consistently indicate that extensional tectonics and related exhumation and doming, epithermal mineralizations and volcanic activity are closely spaced in time. These new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age results further contribute to temporal constraints on the timing of tectonic, relative to ore-forming and magmatic events, suggesting in addition that all above mentioned processes interfered during the late orogenic extensional collapse in the Eastern Rhodope region.     

40Ar/39Ar evidence for the timing of Paleoproterozoic gold mineralisation at the Sandpiper Deposit,Tanami region,northern Australia

At the Sandpiper gold deposit in the Tanami region of northern Australia sericite is intimately intergrown with arsenopyrite in gold-bearing quartz veins and breccias, suggesting sericite crystallisation synchronous with gold-bearing fluid flow. This ore-stage sericite yields a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 1785 ± 32 Ma (2σ including both analytical and systematic uncertainties). Recalculation using revised and more precise values for the ⁴⁰K decay constants and the age of the Fish Canyon Sanidine standard shifts the age to 1794 ±12 Ma (2σ including all known uncertainties). Given the possibility of post-mineralisation isotopic resetting this age can be conservatively interpreted as a minimum constraint on the timing of gold deposition although, given local geological relationships and estimates for the argon retentivity of white mica, we consider complete isotopic resetting to be unlikely. The preferred interpretation is, therefore, that the sericite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age indicates the timing of gold mineralisation. Thesericite age accords with a limited dataset of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb xenotime ages of ca 1800 Ma from other gold deposits in the Tanami region, interpreted as mineralisation ages. The agreement between independently derived ages from several gold deposits lends support for a widespread gold-mineralising event at ca 1800 Ma in the Tanami region.     

40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar geochronology of magmatic and hydrothermal events in a classic low-suphidation epithermal bonanza deposit: El Peñon, northern Chile

The epithermal El Peñon gold–silver deposit consists of quartz–adularia veins emplaced within a late Upper Paleocene rhyolitic dome complex, located in the Paleocene–Lower Eocene Au–Ag belt of northern Chile. Detailed K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology on volcano–plutonic rocks and hydrothermal minerals were carried out to constrain magmatic and hydrothermal events. The Paleocene to Lower Eocene magmatism in the El Peñon area is confined to a rhomb-shaped basin, which was controlled by N–S trending normal faults and both NE- and NW-trending transtensional fault systems. The earliest products of the basin-filling sequences comprise of Middle to Upper Paleocene (～59–55 Ma) welded rhyolitic ignimbrites and andesitic to dacitic lavas, with occasional dacitic dome complexes. Later, rhyolitic and dacitic dome complexes (～55–52 Ma) represent the waning stages of volcanism during the latest Upper Paleocene and the earliest Eocene. Lower Eocene porphyry intrusives (～48–43 Ma) mark the end of the magmatism in the basin and a change to a compressive tectonomagmatic regime. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of hydrothermal adularia from the El Peñon deposit yields ages between 51.0±0.6 and 53.1±0.5 Ma. These results suggest that mineralization occurred slightly after the emplacement of the El Peñon rhyolitic dome at 54.5±0.6 Ma (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age) and was closely tied to later dacitic–rhyodacitic bodies of 52 to 53 Ma (K–Ar ages), probably as short-lived pulses related to single volcanic events.     

桂东南新发现煌斑岩的地球化学特征及黑云母~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar年龄

正华南构造应力场在燕山期由挤压变为拉伸体制,基本已达成共识。但其构造转换过程中伸展的时限仍未确证。以往对华南燕山期构造的研究多集中于花岗岩和碱性杂岩,近年来对基性岩脉的研究也日渐重视。相比之下,对煌斑岩的报道则较少,而对煌斑岩岩脉的地球化学及同位素特征进行综合研究可以很好地限定其研究区的岩石圈拉张特征、构造属性和地幔源区性质,对区域构造演化格     

40Ar(40Ar＊＋40ArE)、39Ar释气特征与过剩氩的甄别及年代学意义

对具有不同地质历史背景的3类⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar法样品中的⁴⁰Ar和³⁹Ar释出特征进行对比,研究结果表明,⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar法样品中的⁴⁰Ar、³⁹Ar释气曲线主要表现为以下3种形式:完全重合型、过剩氩型和不规则型。当⁴⁰Ar与³⁹Ar释气曲线呈完全重合型时,⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar法全熔年龄代表了岩体的形成年龄;当⁴⁰Ar、³⁹Ar释气曲线是过剩氩型时,⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar法全熔年龄则大于岩体的形成年龄;当⁴⁰Ar与³⁹Ar释气曲线呈不规则型时,表明样品中的放射成固氩(⁴⁰Ar^*)发生了丢失,其全熔年龄一般较岩体的形成年龄小。对于⁴⁰Ar、³⁹Ar释气曲线呈过剩氩型的样品,⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar法年龄谱通常呈马鞍形,且马鞍形年龄谱的底部年龄一般都具有地质意义,代表了岩体的形成年龄。对于⁴⁰Ar、³⁹Ar释气曲线呈不规则型的样品,对其年龄谱的解释应持谨慎态度。     

桐柏——大别山主要构造热事件及40Ar/39Ar地质定年研究

桐柏——大别山是一条复合造山带。在其演化过程中曾经历了扬子旋回（1000Ma-761Ma）和加里东旋回（470Ma-401Ma）两个板块构造旋回的俯冲-碰撞造山作用，之后又经历了早、中华力西（357Ma-314Ma）的平移走滑和晚华力西（286Ma-261Ma）、印支期（224Ma-185Ma）、燕山期（130Ma-111Ma）逆掩或逆冲推覆的陆-陆叠覆造山作用。印支期的高压超高压变质岩系是在陆-陆叠覆造山作用下形成的。燕山期的造山不仅具显著的深层次构造岩浆作用特点，而且还伴随快速的隆升作用。     

40Ar/39Ar laser probe evidence concerning the age and associated hazards of the Lake Nyos Maar,Cameroon

The waters of Lake Nyos are impounded by a fragile natural dam composed of pyroclastic rocks ejected during the formation of the lake crater (maar). Lateral erosion of this dam has reduced its width from over 500 m to only 45 m. Published whole-rock K-Ar ages of about 100 ka on juvenile basalt from the dam suggests that erosion has been slow and that the dam poses no imminent threat. New apparent ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 1.4 to 232 Ma on xenocrystic K-feldspar contained in the basalt show that the xenocrysts, whose source is the 528-Ma crystalline basement, are carriers of inherited radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and would cause the whole-rock K-Ar ages to be too old. The best estimate for the age of the maar is provided by a ¹⁴C age of 400 ± 100 yr BP on charcoal from the base of the dam. This young age indicates that the dam is eroding at a relatively rapid rate; its failure, perhaps within a few decades, would result in a major flood and imperil thousands of people living downstream in Cameroon and eastern Nigeria.     

A new 40Ar/39Ar eruption age for the Mount Widderin volcano,Newer Volcanic Province,Australia, with implications for eruption frequency in the region

The Mount Widderin shield volcano is located near Skipton, western Victoria, in the Western Plains subprovince of the monogenetic Pliocene–Holocene Newer Volcanic Province (NVP). Radiometric ages for lavas in the Hamilton–Skipton–Derrinallum area are few, owing to limited suitable outcrop for K–Ar or ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology studies. Existing age constraints for flows in this area have been inferred from Regolith Landform Units (RLUs), complemented by a small number of K–Ar studies on ≥1 Ma flows. Although the RLU approach provides a valuable overview of relative eruption ages across the NVP, it is of limited use in eruption frequency studies. Additional radio-isotopic ages are required to refine age ranges for individual RLUs, and to validate previous assignment of individual flows to specific RLUs. We report a new, high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 389 ± 8 ka (2σ) for a Mount Widderin basalt sample. Based on this age and geomorphic observations, we propose that both the Widderin and Elephant lava flows be reassigned from the Eccles RLU to the Rouse RLU. We use the 389 ± 8 ka (2σ) age for Widderin, along with published K–Ar ages, to anchor a stratigraphic sequence of 15 individual flows in the Hamilton–Skipton–Derrinallum area, demonstrating that intermittent volcanism has occurred in this area from ≥3 Ma to ≤0.389 Ma. Within the limits of available data for the NVP, this time span of volcanic activity is second only to that of the Melbourne area. We consider the significance of the Widderin eruption age, in conjunction with published age constraints for maars and scoria cones of the Western Plains subprovince, building on previous studies that have focused solely on lava flow ages. The inclusion of the additional data weakens the argument for a decrease in volcanic activity after ca 0.9 Ma as implied by published ages for lava flows only. Additional detailed combined geochronology–geomorphology studies of lavas, scoria cones and maars in strategically selected small areas are advocated to better understand eruption frequency across the NVP.     

辽西新台门白垩纪火山岩~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar定年及其对蝾螈化石层时代的约束

富含热河生物群鸟类和恐龙化石的辽西白垩纪地层属于中生代陆相火山沉积,其不同区域之间的地层对比和时代归属一直存有较大争议。本文采用激光40Ar/39Ar年代学方法,对葫芦岛新台门地区一个实测剖面中蝾螈化石点下伏的两层火山岩夹层进行了年代学研究。通过地层中火山岩夹层及火山岩颈的年代学测定,获得6组激光40Ar/39Ar年代结果。其中,下部层位中的流纹岩和安山质玄武岩样品XTM-3、XTM-5年龄结果分别为94.2±1.3Ma、93.7±1.3Ma;作为这一期喷发晚期就位的火山岩颈样品XTM-7的年龄结果为92.8±0.4Ma;而上部层位的安山岩和安山玄武岩火山岩夹层样品XTM-6、XTM-8、XTM-9年龄分别为110.1±1.0Ma、110.9±0.5Ma、93.7±1.2Ma。随后我们又从XTM-9位置的化石点下部采集样品XTM-9-2,进行实验验证。得到的结果表明,新台门地区早白垩世地层记录了至少两期火山喷发事件,喷发时间分别为110Ma和93Ma。根据测年结果,新台门白垩系的蝾螈化石层应代表中国北方中生代地层中迄今所发现的有尾两栖类化石纪录的最高层位,可能与辽西地区的九佛堂组或甚至与阜新组相当。     

云南墨江镍金矿床富金石英脉的40Ar/39Ar快中子活化年龄

云南墨江镍金矿床富金石英脉石英的⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar快中子活化年龄谱为马鞍形,坪年龄为93±3Ma,对应的等时线年龄为90±3 Ma,最低视年龄为91±1 Ma,3者在误差范围内接近,最低视年龄(91±1 Ma)代表石英的结晶年龄.     

New U-Pb zircon and Ar/Ar muscovite age constraints on the emplacement of the Lizio syn-tectonic granite (Armorican Massif, France)

LA-ICP-MS U-Pb analyses performed on zircon grains from the Lizio granite yielded an emplacement age of 316 ± 6 Ma. Typical S-C structures show that the Lizio granite was emplaced contemporaneously with dextral shearing along the northern branch of the South Armorican Shear Zone and that it was therefore active at that time. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses performed on muscovite grains yielded plateau dates ranging between 311.5 and 308.2 Ma. Muscovite chemistry is typical of primary magmatic muscovite, which precludes a late fluids-induced resetting of the K-Ar isotopic system. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates thus likely correspond to the cooling ages below the argon closure temperature. Considering the uncertainties on the measured ages, we can propose that either the Lizio granite cooled down quickly in less than a million of years or that it remained in a hot environment for several millions of years after its emplacement. This latter scenario could have been sustained by shear heating during dextral shearing along the northern branch of the South Armorican Shear Zone.     

多宝山斑岩铜矿区水热蚀变矿物的激光显微探针40Ar/39Ar定年

在利用脉冲显微激光探针⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar定年技术测定标准样品的J值和年龄适用范围的基础上,研究了黑龙江省嫩江县北部多宝山斑岩铜矿区水热成因矿物的年代学。结果表明,高钾含量的水热蚀变矿物适合于激光探针的表面微区测定,并且可以克服水热蚀变矿物中的³⁹Ar “反冲”丢失对年龄结果的影响。矿区的岩浆-水热事件主要有两期,分别为253-220Ma和184-162Ma,前者代表了成矿时代,后者反映出由成矿期后岩浆活动所引起的水热叠加事件。     

Dating deformation using crushed alkali feldspar: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of shear zones in the Wyangala Batholith,NSW, Australia

Diffusion parameters have been estimated for K-feldspar in and adjacent to mylonite shear zones in the Wyangala Batholith. The parameters obtained suggest that deformation during mylonitisation would have caused argon systematics to reset because diffusion distances were reduced by cataclasis, deformation and/or recrystallisation. However, the mineral lattice remained sufficiently retentive to allow subsequently produced radiogenic argon to be retained. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology is thus able to constrain operation of these biotite-grade ductile shear zones to the period from ca 380 Ma to ca 360 Ma, at the end of the Tabberabberan Orogeny.     

金属成矿40Ar/39Ar年代学的进展与问题——以黄铁矿、闪锌矿为例

长期以来, 由于金属成矿的多期性及易受后期蚀变的干扰, 成矿时代的确定成为难题, 进而成为成矿机理、矿床勘探等研究的制约因素。本文以黄铁矿和闪锌矿这两种典型的矿石矿物为例, 回顾了利用⁴⁰ Ar/³⁹ Ar法直接确定成矿时代的研究现状, 探讨了其中的问题、可能的解决方法及以后的发展前景, 为进一步开展矿石矿物的⁴⁰ Ar/³⁹ Ar年代学提供参考。同时对采自辽宁丹东青城子矿中的黄铁矿和闪锌矿样品做了包裹体镜下观察和电子探针的元素分析, 以期更好地理解矿石矿物⁴⁰ Ar/³⁹ Ar法直接定年的潜力。     

西藏嘎拉勒夕卡岩型铜金矿白云母~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar年龄及其地质意义

西藏嘎拉勒夕卡岩型铜金矿床中铜的资源量达到中型规模,金的资源量达到大型规模。在系统的野外地质调查基础上,选取矿床夕卡岩中保存极好的白云母,测得40Ar-39Ar年龄为91.48Ma±0.68Ma,代表矿床成矿年龄,表明矿床为燕山运动晚期的产物。结合区域地质资料认为,在拉萨地块中北部,成矿年龄约为90Ma的夕卡岩型—斑岩型矿床集中分布在措勤—申扎岩浆弧上;在早白垩世班公湖—怒江洋盆闭合后,狮泉河—永珠—纳木错—嘉黎蛇绿混杂带(Slainajap带)上的弧后盆地和弧间盆地演化成了一系列小洋盆,这些小洋盆的演化与中拉萨地块北部成矿年龄约为90Ma的夕卡岩—斑岩型矿床的形成有更直接的关系。今后宜加大在措勤—申扎岩浆弧上寻找成矿年龄约为90Ma的夕卡岩—斑岩型矿床的力度。     

Timing and Processes of Ore Formation in the Qingchengzi Polymetallic Orefield, Northeast China: Evidence from 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology

The Qingchengzi orefield is a large polymetallic ore concentration area in the Liaodong peninsula,northeastern China,that includes twelve Pb-Zn deposits and five Au-Ag deposits along its periphery.The ore-forming age remains much disputed,which prevents the identification of the relationship between the mineralization and the associated magmatism.In this paper,we quantitatively present the feasibility of making ore mineral ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar dating and report reliable ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar ages of lamprophyre groundmass,K-feldspar and sphalerite from the Zhenzigou deposit.Direct and indirect methods are applied to constrain the timing of mineralization,which plays a vital role in discussing the contribution of multistage magmatism to ore formation.The low-potassium sphalerite yielded an inverse isochron age of 232.8±41.5 Ma,which features a relatively large uncertainty.Two lamprophyre groundmasses got reliable inverse isochron ages of 193.2±1.3 Ma and 152.3±1.5 Ma,respectively.K-feldspar yielded a precise inverse isochron age of 134.9±0.9 Ma.These four ages indicate that the mineralization is closely associated with Mesozoic magmatism.Consequently,regarding the cooling age of the earliest Mesozoic Shuangdinggou intrusion(224.2±1.2 Ma)as the initial time of mineralization,we can further constrain the age of the sphalerite to 224–191 Ma.These new and existing geochronological data,combined with the interaction cutting or symbiotic relationship between the lamprophyre veins and ore veins,suggest that the Pb-Zn-Au-Ag mineralization in the Qingchengzi orefield mainly occurred during three periods:the late Triassic(ca.224–193 Ma),the late Jurassic(ca.167–152 Ma)and the early Cretaceous(ca.138–134 Ma).This polymetallic deposits are shown to have been formed during multiple events coinciding with periods of the Mesozoic magmatic activity.In contrast,the Proterozoic magmatism and submarine exhalative and hydrothermal sedimentation in the Liaolaomo paleorift served mainly to transport and concentrate the ore-forming substances at the Liaohe Group with no associated Pb-Zn-Au-Ag mineralization.     

40Ar/39Ar age of the onset of high-Ti phase of the Emeishan volcanism strengthens the link with the end-Guadalupian mass extinction

Precise time constraints of the main extrusive phase of the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP) remain unresolved because basalts commonly do not contain suitable minerals for U–Pb dating, whereas previous ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar studies on basalts yielded tectonothermal overprint ages. The timing for the ELIP was deduced from indirect dating of minor intrusions of ultramafic/mafic and felsic compositions by geochronological methods and geological correlations. The extrusive part of the ELIP consists of an older low-Ti and younger high-Ti basalt phases. We have found fresh samples of plagioclase-phyric rocks at the lower Qiaojia extrusive section (the Yunnan province of China), which belong to the ELIP unit of the high-Ti basalt series. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on plagioclase from two samples conducted at two different laboratories using different age standards yielded statistically indistinguishable results with the weighted mean age of 260.1 ± 1.2 Ma for five individual measurements. This provides the direct constraints on the onset of the ELIP high-Ti basalt extrusive phase. The obtained age is within the error or slightly older than the age of the Guadalupian–Lopingian boundary and felsic ignimbrite capping the ELIP lava succession (both dated at 259.1 ± 0.5 Ma). Our new data are strengthening the short duration of the, at least, high-Ti phase of the ELIP volcanism and its temporal link with the end-Guadalupian mass extinction. Estimation of the total duration of the ELIP volcanism awaits finding of suitable for dating low-Ti basalts.     

Ar/Ar thermochronologic constraints on deformation, metamorphism and cooling/exhumation of a Mesozoic accretionary wedge, Otago Schist, New Zealand

Structural thickening of the Torlesse accretionary wedge via juxtaposition of arc-derived greywackes (Caples Terrane) and quartzo-feldspathic greywackes (Torlesse Terrane) at 120 Ma formed a belt of schist (Otago Schist) with distinct mica fabrics defining (i) schistosity, (ii) transposition layering and (iii) crenulation cleavage. Thirty-five ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating experiments on these micas and whole rock micaceous fabrics from the Otago Schist have shown that the main metamorphism and deformation occurred between 160 and 140 Ma (recorded in the low grade flanks) through 120 Ma (shear zone deformation). This was followed either by very gradual cooling or no cooling until about 110 Ma, with some form of extensional (tectonic) exhumation and cooling of the high-grade metamorphic core between 109 and 100 Ma. Major shear zones separating the low-grade and high-grade parts of the schist define regions of separate and distinct apparent age groupings that underwent different thermo-tectonic histories. Apparent ages on the low-grade north flank (hanging wall to the Hyde-Macraes and Rise and Shine Shear Zones) range from 145 to 159 Ma (n=8), whereas on the low-grade south flank (hanging wall to the Remarkables Shear Zone or Caples Terrane) range from 144 to 156 Ma (n=5). Most of these samples show complex age spectra caused by mixing between radiogenic argon released from neocrystalline metamorphic mica and lesser detrital mica. Several of the hanging wall samples with ages of 144–147 Ma show no evidence for detrital contamination in thin section or in the form of the age spectra. Apparent ages from the high-grade metamorphic core (garnet–biotite–albite zone) range from 131 to 106 Ma (n=13) with a strong grouping 113–109 Ma (n=7) in the immediate footwall to the major Remarkables Shear Zone. Most of the age spectra from within the core of the schist belt yield complex age spectra that we interpret to be the result of prolonged residence within the argon partial retention interval for white mica (430–330 °C). Samples with apparent ages of about 110–109 Ma tend to give concordant plateaux suggesting more rapid cooling. The youngest and most disturbed age spectra come from within the ‘Alpine chlorite overprint’ zone where samples with strong development of crenulation cleavage gave ages 85–107 and 101 Ma, due to partial resetting during retrogression. The bounding Remarkables Shear zone shows resetting effects due to dynamic recrystallization with apparent ages of 127–122 Ma, whereas overprinting shear zones within the core of the schist show apparent ages of 112–109 and 106 Ma. These data when linked with extensional exhumation of high-grade rocks in other parts of New Zealand indicate that the East Gondwana margin underwent significant extension in the 110–90 Ma period.