A study of complex discordance in zircons using step-wise dissolution techniques

Step-wise dissolution techniques applied to a variety of zircon samples, including those with combined inheritance plus later isotopic disturbance, reveal both the complexity of zircon isotopic systematics, and successfully “see through” this complexity to extract high-quality age information. The chemical procedures for the partial dissolution steps must be designed to extract completely all the U and Pb associated with the zircon digested in each step, in order to avoid large, laboratory-induced fluctuations in U/Pb ratio from step to step. In general, relatively short initial partial dissolution steps remove disturbed zircon domains characterized by very high U concentrations and low ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages. In some cases the initial step yields the lowest ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age, reflecting both the high accessibility and solubility of the most disturbed domains. In other cases, disturbed domains evidently reside deep within the zircons, and are attacked only when the second or third steps penetrate to the interior via cracks or flaws to “mine out” these domains. In all the samples in this study, and regardless of the details of the steps, about a week of digestion time at 80°C removed most of the highly disturbed domains, leaving further partial dissolution steps and/or the total digestion of the final residue to sample highly refractory (i.e., highly insoluble), relatively low U zircon domains. The early partial digestion steps also remove virtually all the common Pb associated with the zircons. Study of partially digested zircons by scanning electron microscope reveals that at least in part, the disturbed, high-U, highly soluble domains and the less (un-?) disturbed, low-U, highly refractory domains are defined by primary igneous zoning on a micron or even sub-micron scale, well below the resolution of the “SHRIMP”, for example. In the case of zircons lacking any inheritance, the residue analyses yield near-concordant, highly precise results. In the case of zircons with inherited components, the residue analyses appear to plot on “primary” discordia lines. Depending on the relative solubility of the inherited versus the igneous component, the final residue will concentrate one or the other.