The age of the Lugar sill and a discussion of the Late-Carboniferous/Early-Permian sill complex of S.W. Scotland

The incremental heating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method has been used to date a kaersutite separate from the main theralite-picrite unit of the Lugar sill. Ar-release spectra show discordance mainly due to the presence of excess Ar in alteration phases intimately associated with the primary kaersutite. Plateaus in the spectra allow an emplacement age of 288 ± 6 Ma (2γ) to be assigned to the sill. The results are used to discuss the age relations of the alkaline Permo-Carboniferous sill complex of southwest Scotland. It is concluded that these sills could have been emplaced over a shorter period of time than implied by the available conventional K/Ar data. The classification of the alkaline sills into kylite and teschenite types has little petrogenetic significance.