Pressure-Temperature-Time Paths from the Funeral Mountains, California, Reveal Jurassic Retroarc Underthrusting during Early Sevier Orogenesis

New metamorphic pressure-temperature (P-T) paths and Lu-Hf garnet ages reveal a temporal correlation between Middle to Late Jurassic retroarc underthrusting and arc magmatism in southwestern North America. P-T paths were determined for 12 garnet porphyroblasts from six samples from the Chloride Cliff area of the Funeral Mountains in southeastern California. The composite path shows a pressure increase from 4.2 to 6.5 kbar as temperature increased from 550 to 575 °C, followed by a pressure decrease to 5.1 kbar during a further increase in temperature to 590 °C. Lu-Hf garnet ages from a pelitic schist (167.3 ± 0.7 Ma) and a garnet amphibolite (165.1 ± 9.2 Ma) place these P-T paths in the Middle Jurassic. We interpret the near-isothermal pressure increase portion of the P-T path to have developed during thrust-related burial, similar to lower grade rocks at Indian Pass, 8 km to the southeast, where garnet P-T paths show a pressure increase dated by the Lu-Hf method at 158.2 ± 2.6 Ma. We interpret the pressure decrease portion of the composite P-T path from the Chloride Cliff area to reflect exhumation contemporaneous with cooling in the Indian Pass area documented from muscovite 40Ar/39Ar step-heating ages of 152.6 ± 1.4 and 146 ± 1.1 Ma. The conditions and timing of metamorphism determined for the Indian Pass and Chloride Cliff areas, and isogradic surfaces that cut across stratigraphy, support the interpretation that the strata were dipping moderately NW during metamorphism, parallel to the thrust ramp that buried the rocks. Burial likely resulted from top-SE motion along the Funeral thrust, which was later reactivated as a low-angle normal fault with opposite motion to become the currently exposed Boundary Canyon detachment that was responsible for Miocene and possibly older exhumation. The part of the burial history captured by garnet growth occurred ∼6 m.y. before the 161 Ma peak of high-flux magmatism in the arc. Burial was contemporaneous with metamorphic ages from the western Sierra Nevada metamorphic belt, with the possible timing of accretion of arc terranes in northern California, and with the initiation of Franciscan subduction. Burial ages are also similar in timing with generally E-W crustal shortening in the retroarc that produced the East Sierra thrust system, the Luning-Fencemaker fold and thrust belt, the possible early history of the Central Nevada thrust belt, and the western thrusts of the southern Sevier belt. The timing of tectonic burial documented in this study and of high-flux magmatism in the arc supports the interpretation that the development of a coherent arc-trench system in the Early Jurassic resulted in the underthrusting of melt-fertile material beneath the arc along west- to northwest-dipping faults such as the Funeral thrust in the Jurassic, which penetrated the basement to the west as well as the roots of the magmatic arc, leading to increased magmatism

A Chemical Separation and Measuring Technique for Titanium Isotopes for Titanium Ores and Iron-Rich Minerals

Ti-isotope fractionation on the most Ti-rich minerals on Earth has not been reported. Therefore, we present a chemical preparation and separation technique for Ti-rich minerals for mineralogic, petrologic, and economic geologic studies. A two-stage ion-exchange column procedure modified from the previous literature is used in the current study to separate Ti from Fe-rich samples, while α-TiO2 does not require chemical separation. Purified solutions in conjunction with solution standards were measured on two different instruments with dry plasma and medium-resolution mode providing mass-dependent results with the lowest errors. 49/47TiOL-Ti for the solution and solids analyzed here demonstrate a range of >5‰ far greater than the whole procedural 1 error of 0.10‰ for a synthetic compound and 0.07‰ for the mineral magnetite; thus, the procedure produces results is resolvable within the current range of measured Ti-isotope fractionation in these minerals

Synthetic zircon doped with hafnium and rare earth elements: A reference material for in situ hafnium isotope analysis

International audienceA series of flux-grown synthetic zircon crystals doped with Hf and selected rare earth elements (REE) were produced for use as a potential reference material for Lu-Hf isotopic analysis of zircon by in situ laser ablation multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICPMS). The synthetic zircon crystals were doped such as to produce a large range of REE/Hf, allowing for a robust means of monitoring and correcting the sometimes large (176)Yb and (176)Lu isobaric interferences on the low-abundance (176)Hf in natural zircon, as well as potential oxide interferences from Gd, Tb, and Dy. The synthetic zircon crystals have a homogeneous Hf isotopic composition, both within and between grains, as documented by solution MC-ICPMS analyses of Hf chemically separated from multiple fragments of zircon from three different syntheses, and 321 laser ablation MC-ICPMS analyses done in two different laboratories. An additional 110 in situ analyses of natural zircon crystals reveal identical behavior of natural and synthetic zircon during Hf isotope analysis by laser ablation. Hence, the synthetic zircon crystals provide a means of monitoring a wide range of Yb and Lu interferences (up to 50% of the total signal intensity at mass 176) during routine isotopic analysis for geological studies. They also may be helpful in developing improved laboratory protocols for accurate in situ Lu-Hf isotopic measurement of natural zircon. The present data illustrate the importance of the (176)Yb interference correction on (176)Hf, which can result in large biases if not properly applied to natural samples with their variable and often high (176)Yb/(177)Hf. This study definitively shows that use of high-REE/Hf synthetic zircon standards for calibrating the Yb mass bias correction is more accurate than use of Yb-doped natural Hf solutions. Finally, the results of the present work suggest that synthetic minerals may prove useful as both in situ method development tools and isotopic reference materials

U-Pb dating of zircon by LA-ICP-MS

In this study we used LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry) to determine U-Pb ages of 5 zircon samples of known age (∼1800 Ma to ∼50 Ma) in order to determine the reproducibility, precision, and accuracy of this geochronologic technique. This work was performed using a ThermoFinnigan Element2 magnetic sector double-focusing ICP-MS coupled with a New Wave Research UP-213 laser system. The laser ablation pit sizes ranged from 30 to 40 μm in diameter. Laser-induced time-dependent fractionation is corrected by normalizing measured ratios in both standards and samples to the beginning of the analysis using the intercept method. Static fractionation, including those caused during laser ablation and due to instrumental discrimination, is corrected using external zircon standards. Total uncertainty for each laser analysis of an unknown is combined quadratically from the uncertainty in the measured isotope ratios of the unknown and the uncertainty in the fractionation factors calculated from the measurement of standards. For individual analyses we estimate that the accuracy and precision are better than 4% at the 2 sigma level, with the largest contribution in uncertainty from the measurement of the standards. Accuracy of age determinations in this study is on the order of 1% on the basis of comparing the weighted average of the LA-ICP-MS determinations to the TIMS ages. Due to unresolved contributions to uncertainty from the lack of a common Pb correction and from potential matrix effects between standards and unknowns, however, this estimate cannot be universally applied to all unknowns. Nevertheless, the results of this study provide an example of the type of precision and accuracy that may be possible with this technique under ideal conditions. In summary, the laser ablation technique, using a magnetic sector ICP-MS, can be used for the U-Pb dating of zircons with a wide range of ages and is a useful complement to the established TIMS and SHRIMP techniques. This technique is especially well suited to reconnaissance geochronologic and detrital zircon studies

Hf isotopes in detrital and inherited zircons of the Pilbara Craton provide no evidence for Hadean continents

Predictions of large volumes of stabilized continental crust by the early Archaean stand in stark contrast to the actual amount of pre-3.5. Ga rocks presently exposed on Earth's surface. The Pilbara Craton of Western Australia, one of the best preserved Paleoarchean crustal blocks on Earth, is believed to have developed on a cryptic, possibly =3.8. Ga continental basement. If substantiated, this could support the notion of a widespread and enduring Hadean (ca. 4.5-4.0. Ga) felsic-intermediate crust. To test this, and to elucidate the earliest evolution of the Pilbara Craton, we report Hf isotope data from previously dated detrital zircon grains, and inherited zircon crystals hosted by granitic gneisses, the crystallization ages (3.80-3.55. Ga) of which substantially exceed those of the oldest exposed igneous rocks of the craton (~3.52. Ga). The Hf isotope compositions of the ancient zircons analyzed in this study are consistent with most of the earliest components of the Pilbara Craton being extracted from near chondritic mantle between ~3.7 and 3.6. Ga, with little or no input from significantly older crust. These new data suggest either that the Pilbara Craton developed remote from the isotopic influence of the putative Eoarchean to Hadean continental masses, or that the stabilized volumes of the earliest continents have been overestimated. The latter scenario would be consistent with the extreme scarcity of >3.9. Ga rocks and minerals, and the dominantly chondritic Hf isotope composition of the oldest continental rocks in Earth's most ancient Archaean cratons

U-Th-Pb Dating of Monazite by Single-Collector ICP-MS: Pitfalls and Potential

Methods are presented for in situ determination of Pb/U, Pb/Th, and Pb/Pb ages in monazite by laser ablation, single-collector, magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Analytical precisions for individual spot analyses are ±2–3% for 206Pb/238U and 207Pb/235U, 4% for 208Pb/232Th, and 1–2% for 207Pb/206Pb (2σ, SD). For pooled analyses these precisions are ∼ ± 1–2% for 206Pb/238U, 207Pb/235U, and 208Pb/232Th and ≤1% for 207Pb/206Pb (2σ, SE). When normalized to Trebilcock, LA-ICP-MS ages on other monazite standards can deviate from their thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) ages by up to 1% for 207Pb/206Pb and up to 5% for 206Pb/238U, 207Pb/235U, and 208Pb/232Th ages. This variability has also been observed for secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) Th-Pb dating. The source(s) of these inaccuracies remains unknown. Although there are significant uncertainties inherent in this technique, U-Th-Pb monazite dating by LA-ICP-MS has important applications where this higher level of uncertainty is acceptable. Application to a large vein monazite from the Llallagua tin district of Bolivia suggests mineralization at 17–21 Ma, consistent with 21 Ma K-Ar ages from wallrock minerals but distinct from ∼45 Ma ages from apatite (Sm/Nd) and zircon (Pb/Pb)