ZIRCON (U-TH)/HE THERMOCHRONOMETRY: HE DIFFUSION AND COMPARISONS WITH 40AR/39AR DATING

Abstract

(U-Th)/He chronometry of zircon has a wide range of potential applications including thermochronometry, provided the temperature sensitivity (e.g., closure temperature) of the system be accurately constrained. We have examined the characteristics of He loss from zircon in a series of step-heating diffusion experiments, and compared zircon (U-Th)/He ages with other thermochronometric constraints from plutonic rocks. Diffusion experiments on zircons with varying ages and U-Th contents yield Arrhenius relationships which, after about 5% He release, indicate Ea = 163–173 kJ/mol (39–41 kcal/mol), and D0 = 0.09–1.5 cm2/s, with an average Ea of 169 ± 3.8 kJ/mol (40.4 ± 0.9 kcal/mol) and average D0 of 0.46+0.87−0.30 cm2/s. The experiments also suggest a correspondence between diffusion domain size and grain size. For effective grain radius of 60 μm and cooling rate of 10°C/myr, the diffusion data yield closure temperatures, Tc, of 171–196°C, with an average of 183°C. The early stages of step heating experiments show complications in the form of decreasing apparent diffusivity with successive heating steps, but these are essentially absent in later stages, after about 5–10% He release. These effects are independent of radiation dosage and are also unlikely to be due to intracrystalline He zonation. Regardless of the physical origin, this non-Arrhenius behavior is similar to predictions based on degassing of multiple diffusion domains, with only a small proportion (