Natural long-term annealing of the zircon fission track system around a granitic pluton

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (B4) ◽  
pp. 8245-8255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Tagami ◽  
Chica Shimada
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Granitic Pluton ◽  
Track System ◽  
Zircon Fission Track

scholarly journals EXHUMATION OF THE HELLENIC ACCRETIONARY PRISM – EVIDENCE FROM FISSION-TRACK THERMOCHRONOLOGY

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E Marsellos ◽  
W.S.F Kidd ◽  
J.I. Garver ◽  
K.G. Kyriakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Burial Depth ◽  
Accretionary Wedge ◽  
Brittle Ductile Transition ◽  
Track System ◽  
Zircon Fission Track ◽  
Fission Track Thermochronology ◽  
Wide Range

Below the Potamos extensional detachment fault exposed in northern Kythera, the phyllite-quartzite unit (PQU) shows very consistent zircon FT cooling ages of c.11 Ma reflecting the time just after the rapid exhumation through the brittle-ductile transition. In contrast, a wide range of Mesozoic and some Paleozoic zircon FT cooling ages from Eocene-Oligocene Tripolis and Pindos flysch sandstones from above the detachment reflect sedimentary source ages. Early Miocene apatite fissiontrack cooling ages characterize the flysch sandstones, and show that early Miocene exhumation affected rocks above the detachment. The thermotectonic evolution of the flysch of Tripolis and Pindos units within the rocks above the Potamos detachment on Kythera is reconstructed using zircon and apatite fission-track (FT) thermochronology. The apatite FT data provide evidence for a burial depth of at least 6km for the samples, which were reset. Burial was not deeper than 11km, since the zircon fission-track system in the same rocks was not reset. The exposed rocks of Tripolis and Pindos flysch on Kythera represent part of an accretionary wedge with a burial shortly after deposition in or near the subduction trench, and a cooling history due to exhumation of the flysch in the early Miocene. The subsequent Mid-Late Miocene exhumation of the PQU unit follows from beneath the (mostly carbonate) Tripolis and Pindos sedimentary rocks.

Evolution of a low-relief landscape in the Eastern Alps constrained by low-temperature thermochronology and cosmogenic nuclides

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Wölfler ◽  
Sebastian Reimers ◽  
Andrea Hampel ◽  
Christoph Glotzbach ◽  
István Dunkl
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Fission Track ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclides ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Exposure Dating ◽  
Zircon Fission Track ◽  
Exposure Ages

<p>The relief history of mountain belts is strongly influenced by the interplay of tectonics and surface processes, which both shape Earth´s landscapes. In this context, the quantification of the rates of long-term and short-term processes is key for understanding landscape evolution and requires the application of methods that integrate over different timescales. In this study, we apply low-temperature thermochronology and cosmogenic nuclides to quantify the geological and geomorphic evolution of an elevated low-relief landscape in the Eastern Alps, the so-called Nock Mountains, which are situated to the east of the Tauern Window. The low-temperature thermochronological data yield zircon fission track and zircon (U-Th)/He cooling ages of 93.4±12.9 and 77.8±7.8 Ma, respectively, which we interpret to reflect late Cretaceous cooling after Eo-Alpine metamorphism. Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He ages are significant younger and range from 36.8 to 31.3 Ma. Time-temperature history modelling of the cooling ages suggests enhanced cooling in the Eocene followed by thermal stagnation. Thus, the rocks of the study area have been in near surface position (2-3 km) since the Late Eocene. Enhanced cooling in the Eocene is probably related to an increasing relief due to shortening, folding and thrusting in the Eastern Alps triggered by the onset of collision between the European margin and the Adriatic microplate. Under the assumption that rock exhumation occurred solely by erosion, the long-term average erosion rate derived from the thermochronological data is ~50-90 mm/kyr. Catchment-wide erosion rates derived from cosmogenic <sup>10</sup>Be in river sediments  range from 83±7 to 205±18 mm/kyr and hence are lower than in other parts of the Alps. As the <sup>10</sup>Be-derived erosion rates and the long-term rates derived from thermochronology agree despite the different timescales over which the two methods integrate, our new data suggest that erosion rates did not change significantly over the last ~40 Ma. This is remarkable because within this time span numerous tectonic processes and glacial-interglacial cycles affected the study area. To investigate the deglaciation history after the Last Glacial Maximum in the Nock Mountains, we sampled glacially polished quartz veins for <sup>10</sup>Be exposure dating. The first four exposure ages obtained so far cluster between 14.5±1.4 and 16.8±1.6 ka. We interpret these ages as the record the retreat of the ice cover in the study area shortly after the Oldest Dryas stadial.</p>

scholarly journals Using Fission-Track Radiography Coupled with Scanning Electron Microscopy for Efficient Identification of Solid-Phase Uranium Mineralogy at a Former Uranium Pilot Mill (Grand Junction, Colorado)

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Raymond H. Johnson ◽  
Susan M. Hall ◽  
Aaron D. Tigar
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Nuclear Research ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Nuclear Research Reactor ◽  
Elemental Data ◽  
Individual Grains ◽  
Scanning Electron ◽  
Section Sample

At a former uranium pilot mill in Grand Junction, Colorado, mine tailings and some subpile sediments were excavated to various depths to meet surface radiological standards, but residual solid-phase uranium below these excavation depths still occurs at concentrations above background. The combination of fission-track radiography and scanning electron microscope energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) provides a uniquely efficient and quantitative way of determining mineralogic associations of uranium that can influence uranium mobility. After the creation of sample thin sections, a mica sheet is placed on those thin sections and irradiated in a nuclear research reactor. Decay of the irradiated uranium creates fission tracks that can be viewed with a microscope. The fission-track radiography images indicate thin section sample areas with elevated uranium that are focus areas for SEM-EDS work. EDS spectra provide quantitative elemental data that indicate the mineralogy of individual grains or grain coatings associated with the fission-track identification of elevated uranium. For the site in this study, the results indicated that uranium occurred (1) with coatings of aluminum–silicon (Al/Si) gel and gypsum, (2) dispersed in the unsaturated zone associated with evaporite-type salts, and (3) sorbed onto organic carbon. The Al/Si gel likely formed when low-pH waters were precipitated during calcite buffering, which in turn retained or precipitated trace amounts of Fe, As, U, V, Ca, and S. Understanding these mechanisms can help guide future laboratory and field-scale efforts in determining long-term uranium release rates to groundwater.

scholarly journals Transient rhyolite melt extraction to produce a shallow granitic pluton

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (21) ◽  
pp. eabf0604
Author(s):  
Allen J. Schaen ◽  
Blair Schoene ◽  
Josef Dufek ◽  
Brad S. Singer ◽  
Michael P. Eddy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Explosive Eruptions ◽  
Upper Crust ◽  
Saturation Model ◽  
Granitic Pluton ◽  
Melt Extraction ◽  
High Silica ◽  
Melt Segregation ◽  
Zircon Saturation

Rhyolitic melt that fuels explosive eruptions often originates in the upper crust via extraction from crystal-rich sources, implying an evolutionary link between volcanism and residual plutonism. However, the time scales over which these systems evolve are mainly understood through erupted deposits, limiting confirmation of this connection. Exhumed plutons that preserve a record of high-silica melt segregation provide a critical subvolcanic perspective on rhyolite generation, permitting comparison between time scales of long-term assembly and transient melt extraction events. Here, U-Pb zircon petrochronology and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology constrain silicic melt segregation and residual cumulate formation in a ~7 to 6 Ma, shallow (3 to 7 km depth) Andean pluton. Thermo-petrological simulations linked to a zircon saturation model map spatiotemporal melt flux distributions. Our findings suggest that ~50 km3 of rhyolitic melt was extracted in ~130 ka, transient pluton assembly that indicates the thermal viability of advanced magma differentiation in the upper crust.

Downstream Changes of Alpine Zircon Fission-Track Ages in the Rhone and Rhine Rivers

2004 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bernet ◽  
M. T. Brandon ◽  
J. I. Garver ◽  
B. Molitor
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Zircon Fission Track ◽  
Fission Track Ages

Low-temperature thermal history of the Gilmore Dome area, Fairbanks Mining District, Alaska

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 764-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Murphy ◽  
Arne Bakke
Keyword(s):  
Gold Deposit ◽  
Fission Track ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
Mining District ◽  
Cooling Path ◽  
Alteration Assemblage ◽  
Zircon Fission Track ◽  
History Of ◽  
Maximum Temperatures ◽  
Fission Track Ages

Eight apatite and two zircon fission-track ages provide evidence of complex Tertiary thermal overprinting by hydrothermal fluids in the Gilmore Dome area. Five ages on apatite from the Fort Knox gold deposit average 41 Ma, one from the Stepovich prospect is 80 Ma, and two from Pedro Dome average 67 Ma. Elevations of these samples overlap but their ages do not, indicating that each area experienced a different thermal history.Ages of apatite from the Fort Knox gold deposit decrease with elevation from 42 to 36 Ma but have data trends indicative of complex cooling. Two ~51 Ma ages on zircon indicate that maximum temperatures approached or exceeded ~180 °C. An alteration assemblage of chalcedony + zeolite + calcite + clay in the deposit resulted from deposition by a paleo-hydrothermal system. The data suggest that the system followed a complex cooling path from > 180 to < 110 °C between 51 and 36 Ma, and that final cooling to below 60 °C occurred after ~25 Ma.The 80 Ma age from Stepovich prospect either resulted from cooling after intrusion of the underlying pluton (~90 Ma) or records postintrusion thermal overprinting sometime after ~50 Ma. The 67 Ma samples from Pedro Dome may also have experienced partial age reduction during later heating. The differences in the data from the different areas and the presence of a late alteration assemblage at Fort Knox suggest that the fluids responsible for heating were largely confined to the highly fractured and porous Fort Knox pluton.

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