Rhenium and osmium systematics on iron and stony iron meteorites

Abstract— Re and Os abundances and ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁶Os isotopic ratios in 12 iron meteorites of various groups and five stony iron meteorites have been determined by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The series of iron meteorites studied have Re and Os concentrations ranging from 0.004 to 3.3 ppm and 0.03 to 41 ppm, respectively. The ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁶Os ratios in these meteorites fall between 3.0 and 6.1 and the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁶Os between 1.0 and 1.2, giving an initial ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁶Os isotopic ratio of 0.790 and a Re-Os age of iron meteorites of 4.30 ± 0.28 Ga when employing the decay constant of 1.64 × 10^?11 yr^?1. The observed Re-Os age for iron meteorites appears somewhat younger than that for chondrites. The resultant younger age might be due either to a very slow cooling of the parental planetesimals or due to a secondary “shock” event. However, for definite conclusions about the Re-Os age, higher precisions of the Re and Os isotopic measurements and of the decay constant of ¹⁸⁷Re are required. Furthermore, the clear elucidation of the mechanisms for the fractionation of the Re/Os abundance ratios are related to the understanding of the meaning of the Re-Os age. The Re and Os abundances in pallasite stony iron meteorites are extremely low compared with those for most iron meteorites. On the other hand, the Re and Os abundances in mesosiderite stony iron meteorites show values comparable with those observed in most iron meteorites. The difference in Re and Os abundances in pallasite and mesosiderite stony iron meteorites strongly suggests that these stony iron meteorites are different in origin or history of chemical evolution. Re and Os abundances in the series of iron and stony iron meteorites were found to have a wide variation covering nearly four orders of magnitude, with a very high correlation coefficient (0.996), and a slope very slightly less than unity. The regression line observed here covers various groups of iron meteorites, stony iron meteorites and also chondrites. Masuda and Hirata (1991) suggested the possible direct mixing process of particles of most refractory metallic elements with gaseous clouds of less refractory matrix elements, since the Re and Os were predicted theoretically to be the first elements to condense as a solid phase from the high temperature solar nebula. The aims of this paper are to present a reliable technique for the Re-Os chronology and to study the cosmochemical sequences of the meteoritic metals.     

U–Pb ages of zircons from metamorphic rocks in the upper sequence of the Hidaka Metamorphic Belt,Hokkaido, Japan: Identification of two metamorphic events and implications for regional tectonics

The Hidaka Metamorphic Belt is a well-known example of island-arc crustal section, in which metamorphic grade increases westwards from unmetamorphosed sediment up to granulite facies. It is divided into lower (granulite to amphibolite facies) and upper (amphibolite to greenschist facies) metamorphic sequences. The metamorphic age of the belt was considered to be ~55 Ma, based on Rb – Sr whole-rock isochron ages for granulites and related S-type tonalities. However, zircons from the granulites in the lower sequence yield U – Pb ages of ~21 – 19 Ma, and a preliminary report on zircons from pelitic gneiss in the upper sequence gives a U – Pb age of ~40 Ma. In this paper we provide new zircon U – Pb ages from two pelitic gneisses in the upper sequence to assess the metamorphic age and also the maximum depositional age of the sedimentary protolith. The weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages from a biotite gneiss in the central area of the belt yield 39.6 ± 0.9 Ma for newly grown metamorphic rims and 53.1 ± 0.9 Ma for the youngest detrital cores. The ages of zircons from a cordierite–biotite gneiss in the southern area are 35.9 ± 0.7 Ma for metamorphic rims and 46.5 ± 2.8 Ma for the youngest detrital cores. These results indicate that metamorphism of the upper sequence took place at ~40 – 36 Ma, and that the sedimentary protolith was deposited after ~53 – 47 Ma. These metamorphic ages are consistent with the reported ages of ~37–36 Ma plutonic rocks in the upper sequence, but contrast with the ~21–19 Ma ages of metamorphic and plutonic rocks in the lower sequence. Therefore, we conclude that the upper and lower metamorphic sequences developed independently but coupled with each other before ~19 Ma as a result of dextral reverse tectonic movement.