An Alternative Protocol for Single Zircon Dissolution with Application to (U‐Th‐Sm)/He Thermochronometry |
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| Authors: | Bouchaïb Tibari Arnaud Vacherat Martin Stab Raphaël Pik Delphine Yeghicheyan Pascal Hild |
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| Institution: | 1. CRPG, UMR 7358, CNRS‐Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre‐lès‐Nancy, France;2. CNRS, UMR 7193, Sorbonne Université, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris (iSTeP), Paris, France;3. CNRS, UMR 7193, Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris (iSTeP), Paris, France;4. Service d'Analyse des Roches et des Minéraux (SARM), CNRS‐CRPG, Vandoeuvre‐lès‐Nancy, France |
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| Abstract: | Zircon (U‐Th‐Sm)/He (ZHe) thermochronometry is a powerful tool that has been widely used in geology to constrain the exhumation histories of orogens. In this study, we present an alternative protocol for dissolving zircon grains for determination of parent nuclides. This new alkali fusion procedure developed at the SARM (Service d'Analyse des Roches et des Minéraux) in Nancy, France, is fast (requiring only 2 d, including cleaning steps) and offers several advantages over conventional methods by avoiding: (i) use of HF pressure dissolution and (ii) complete removing of grains from the metal microvials. After dissolution, U, Th and Sm were measured using an ICP‐MS. We tested the new procedure on two different ZHe reference materials, the Fish Canyon Tuff and Buluk Tuff; these provided precision values for ZHe‐age estimations of 9 and 6% (1s), respectively. In addition, using this method, zircons from the Buluk Tuff are shown to be chemically more homogenous and more suitable for assessing the uncertainty of the entire integrated procedure. |
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| Keywords: | (U‐Th‐Sm)/He thermochronometry zircon ICP‐MS Fish Canyon Tuff Buluk Tuff themochronometrie (U‐Th‐Sm)/He zircon ICP‐MS Fish Canyon Tuff Buluk Tuff |
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