Ar/Ar and C geochronology of the Albano maar deposits: Implications for defining the age and eruptive style of the most recent explosive activity at Colli Albani Volcanic District,Central Italy

New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and ¹⁴C ages have been found for the Albano multiple maar pyroclastic units and underlying paleosols to document the most recent explosive activity in the Colli Albani Volcanic District (CAVD) near Rome, Italy, consisting of seven eruptions (Albano 1 = oldest). Both dating methodologies have been applied on several proximal units and on four mid-distal fall/surge deposits, the latter correlated, according to two current different views, to either the Albano or the Campi di Annibale hydromagmatic center. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on leucite phenocrysts from the mid-distal units yielded ages of ca. 72 ka, 73 ka, 41 ka and 36 ka BP, which are indistinguishable from the previously determined ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of the proximal Albano units 1, 2, 5 and 7, thus confirming their stratigraphic correspondence.     

Data reporting norms for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

Data reported in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology studies are commonly insufficient to allow computation of ages. This deficiency renders it difficult to compare ages based on different standards or constants, and often hinders critical evaluation of the results. Herein are presented an enumeration of the data that should be reported in all ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar studies, including a discussion in support of these requirements. The minimum required data are identified and distinguished from parameters that are useful but may be derived from them by calculation. Finally, recommendations are made for metadata needed to document age calculations (e.g., from age spectrum or isochron analyses).     

Ar-Ar dating of plagioclase grain size separates from silicate inclusions in IAB iron meteorites and implications for the thermochronological evolution of the IAB parent body

In order to better constrain the thermochronological evolution of the IAB parent body we performed a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age study on individual silicate inclusions of the IAB irons Caddo County, Campo del Cielo, Landes, and Ocotillo. In contrast to earlier studies, several plagioclase separates of different grain sizes and quality grades were extracted from each inclusion to reduce the complexity of the age spectra and study the influence of these parameters on the Ar-Ar ages. In nearly all inclusions we found significantly different Ar-Ar ages among the separates (Caddo County: 4.472 ± 0.02-4.562 ± 0.02 Ga; Campo del Cielo 2: 4.362 ± 0.04-4.442 ± 0.03 Ga; Landes 2: 4.412 ± 0.05-4.522 ± 0.04 Ga; Ocotillo: 4.382 ± 0.04-4.462 ± 0.03 Ga). These ages were calculated using the new ⁴⁰K decay constant published by [Mundil R., Renne P. R., Min K. and Ludwig K. R. (2006) Resolvable miscalibration of the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronometer. Eos Trans. AGU 87, Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract V21A-0543]. The ages did not systematically correlate with the respective grain size of the separate as expected, i.e., smaller grains did not necessarily show younger ages due to later closure to Ar diffusion or easier re-opening of the system in the course of a reheating event compared to larger grains. Based on the large range of Ar-Ar ages we suggest that the individual inclusions are composed of silicate grains from different locations within the IAB parent body. While some grains remained in a hot (deep) environment that allowed Ar diffusion over an extended time period—in some cases combined with grain coarsening—, others cooled significantly earlier (near surface) through the K/Ar blocking temperature. These different grains where brought together during an impact followed by mixing and reassembly of the debris as proposed by Benedix et al. [Benedix G. K., McCoy T. J., Keil K. and Love S. G. (2000) A petrologic study of the IAB iron meteorites: constraints on the formation of the IAB-Winonaite parent body. Meteorit. Planet. Sci.35, 1127-1141]. Due to rapid cooling after the impact some of the age differences among the grains could be preserved. Based mainly on our Caddo County Ar-Ar age information, the IAB parent body was destroyed by impact and reassembled between ∼4.5 and 4.47 Ga. However, IAB silicate Ar-Ar ages should depend much more on the pre- and post-impact cooling rate and burial depth than on the time of the actual impact. This is supported by a compilation of our and literature IAB and winonaite Ar-Ar ages ranging smoothly from the time of accretion of the chondritic IAB parent body down to the time of its final cooling through the K-Ar blocking temperature after impact and reassembly, instead of showing a peak in Ar-Ar ages at the time of the destructive impact.     

Joint determination of K decay constants and Ar∗/K for the Fish Canyon sanidine standard, and improved accuracy for Ar/Ar geochronology

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and K-Ar geochronology have long suffered from large systematic errors arising from imprecise K and Ar isotopic data for standards and imprecisely determined decay constants for the branched decay of ⁴⁰K by electron capture and β⁻ emission. This study presents a statistical optimization approach allowing constraints from ⁴⁰K activity data, K-Ar isotopic data, and pairs of ²³⁸U-²⁰⁶Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data for rigorously selected rocks to be used as inputs for estimating the partial decay constants (λ_ε and λ_β) of ⁴⁰K and the ⁴⁰Ar∗/⁴⁰K ratio (κ_FCs) of the widely used Fish Canyon sanidine (FCs) standard. This yields values of κ_FCs = (1.6418 ± 0.0045) × 10⁻³, λ_ε = (0.5755 ± 0.0016) × 10⁻¹⁰ a⁻¹ and λ_β = (4.9737 ± 0.0093) × 10⁻¹⁰ a⁻¹. These results improve uncertainties in the decay constants by a factor of >4 relative to values derived from activity data alone. Uncertainties in these variables determined by our approach are moderately to highly correlated (cov(κ_FCs, λ_ε) = 7.1889 × 10⁻¹⁹, cov(κ_FCs, λ_β) = −7.1390 × 10⁻¹⁹, cov(λ_ε, λ_β) = −3.4497 × 10⁻²⁶) and one must take account of the covariances in error propagation by either linear or Monte Carlo methods. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age errors estimated from these results are significantly reduced relative to previous calibrations. Also, age errors are smaller for a comparable level of isotopic measurement precision than those produced by the ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb system, because the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar system is now jointly calibrated by both the ⁴⁰K and ²³⁸U decay constants, and because λ_ε(⁴⁰K) < λ(²³⁸U). Based on this new calibration, the age of the widely used Fish Canyon sanidine standard is 28.305 ± 0.036 Ma. The increased accuracy of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages is now adequate to provide meaningful validation of high-precision U/Pb or astronomical tuning ages in cases where closed system behavior of K and Ar can be established.     

Age, geodynamic setting, and mantle enrichment processes of a K-rich intrusion from the Meissen massif (northern Bohemian massif) and implications for related occurrences from the mid-European Hercynian

The plutonic complex of the Meissen massif (northern margin of the Bohemian massif) comprises dioritic to mainly monzonitic and granitic rocks. The diorite to monzonite intrusions show major and trace element patterns typical for shoshonitic series. The chemical signatures of less crustally contaminated diorites are similar to arc-related shoshonitic rocks derived from continental lithospheric mantle (CLM) sources previously enriched by subduction of altered oceanic crust. Laser step heating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses on actinolitic to edenitic amphiboles from geographically different occurrences of the monzonitic intrusion yielded concordant plateau ages as well as total gas ages ranging from 329.1±1.4 to 330.4±1.4?Ma and from 330.4±2.1 to 330.6±1.8?Ma, respectively. These cooling ages are indistinguishable from sensitive highresolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb intrusion ages measured on magmatic zircon rims from the monzonite (Nasdala et al., submitted). This shows that the monzonite intrusion is probably not related temporally to active subduction because it postdates eclogites of the adjacent Saxonian Erzgebirge by approximately 20?Ma. The shoshonitic magmas intruded during strike-slip tectonism along the Elbe valley zone. The enrichment of their mantle sources may be of Upper Devonian/Lower Carboniferous age or older. Intrusions of shoshonitic to ultra-potassic (K-rich) rocks during the Upper Visean/Namurian are widespread in the Moldanubian zone. Based on similar ages and structural relationships a similar post-collisional setting to the Meissen shoshonitic rocks can be demonstrated. Most of these occurrences cut high-grade nappe units which were subducted during the Upper Devonian/Lower Carboniferous. In contrast to the Meissen massif, at least the ultra-potassic members of the Central and the South Bohemian batholiths were derived from CLM sources enriched by fluids or melts released from subducted oceanic crust and by greater portions of crustal material. Despite the similar post-collisional geodynamic setting of the K-rich intrusions, different enrichment processes generated mid-European Hercynian CLM sources with heterogeneous major and trace element and isotopic signatures.     

Statistical Methods for Jointly Estimating the Decay Constant of 40K and the Age of a Dating Standard

Mathematical Geosciences - To simultaneously evaluate the decay constant of 40K (λ) and the age of a standard (t std) using isotopic data from geologic materials, we applied a series of...     

Paleomagnetism, geochemistry and Ar/Ar dating of the North-eastern Paraná Magmatic Province: tectonic implications

Seventy sites of sills, flows and dikes from Northeastern Paraná Magmatic Province (PMP), were submitted to paleomagnetic, chemical and radiometric analyses. The rocks are high in TiO₂ content, and similar in composition to the rocks from the northern region of PMP. The sills intrude mainly Paleozoic sediments, and can be subdivided into two domains; the northern being characterized by sills showing reversed polarities, and the southern essentially by sills of normal polarities. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of three distinct sills gave plateau ages (129.9 ± 0.1, 130.3 ± 0.1 and 131.9 ± 0.4 Ma) that are similar to surface-outcropping flows of the Northern Paraná Basin, and the Ponta Grossa dikes. The new paleomagnetic data combined with existing data from the northern PMP allowed the calculation of a paleomagnetic pole at 71.4° E and 83.0° S (N = 92; α₉₅=2.4°; k = 39). This pole is in good agreement with poles for central and southern PMP, which are slightly older than the northern PMP, as well as for the contemporaneous Central Alkaline Province (Paraguay) on the western side of PMP. In contrast, the coeval pole for the Ponta Grossa dikes (eastern border of PMP), however, is slightly displaced from that group of poles, suggesting that dikes in that area may have undergone some tectonic tilting.     

Solar and cosmogenic argon in dated lunar impact spherules

We have studied lunar impact spherules from the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 landing sites, examining the isotopic composition of argon released by stepwise heating. Elsewhere, we reported the formation ages of these spherules, determined by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar isochron method. Here, we discuss solar and cosmogenic argon from the same spherules, separating these two components by correlating their partial releases with the releases of calcium-derived ³⁷Ar on a “cosmochron” diagram. We use the abundances of cosmogenic argon to derive a cosmic ray exposure age for each spherule, and demonstrate that single scoops of lunar soil contain spherules which have experienced very different histories of exposure and burial. The solar argon is seen to be separated into isotopically lighter and heavier fractions, which presumably were implanted to different depths in the spherules. The abundance of the isotopically heavy solar argon is too great to explain as a minor constituent of the solar particle flux, such as the suprathermal tail of the solar wind. The fact that the spherules have been individually dated allows us to look for possible variations in the solar wind as a function of time, over the history of the Solar System. However, the isotopic composition and fluence of solar argon preserved in the lunar spherules appear to be independent of formation age. We believe that most of the spherules are saturated with solar argon, having reached a condition in which implantation by the solar wind is offset by losses from solar-wind sputtering and diffusion.     

Age calibration of the Fish Canyon sanidine Ar/Ar dating standard using primary K-Ar standards

The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating technique requires the use of neutron fluence monitors (standards). Precise calibrations of these standards are crucial to decrease the uncertainties associated with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates. Optimal calibration of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar standards should be based on K/Ar standards having independent isotope dilution measurements of ⁴⁰K and ⁴⁰Ar*, based on independent isotope tracers (spikes) because this offers the possibility to eliminate random interlaboratory errors. In this study, we calibrate the widely used Fish Canyon sanidine (FCs) standard based on four primary K/Ar standards (GA-1550, Hb3gr, NL-25, and GHC-305) on which K and Ar* concentrations have been determined in different labs with independently calibrated tracers. We obtained a mean age of 28.03 ± 0.08 Ma (1σ; neglecting uncertainties of the ⁴⁰K decay constants) for FCs, based on the decay constant recommended by Steiger and Jäger [Steiger R.H., Jäger. E. 1977. Subcommission on geochronology: convention of the use of decay constants in geo- and cosmochronology. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.36, 359-362.]. This age corresponds to a mean ⁴⁰Ar*/⁴⁰K value of (1.6407 ± 0.0047) × 10⁻³. We also discuss several criteria that prevent the use of previous calibrations of FCs based on other primary standards (LP-6, SB-3 and MMhb-1). The age of FCs obtained in this study is based on the ⁴⁰K decay constants of Steiger and Jäger (1977) but we anticipate the imminent need for revision of the value and precision of the ⁴⁰K decay constants (representing the main source of uncertainties in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating). The ⁴⁰Ar*/⁴⁰K result of FCs obtained in this study allows therefore a rapid calibration of the age of FCs with uncertainties at the 0.29% level but perhaps more importantly this value is independent of any particular value of the ⁴⁰K decay constants and may be used in the future in conjunction with revised decay constants.