A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon

A zircon population from an Archean tonalite sample from southern West Greenland has been used as a source analogue in order to test common methods and approaches applied to ancient detrital zircon populations. Measurements of U-Th-Pb, oxygen and Lu-Hf isotopes as well as rare earth element and Ti c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kielman, R., Whitehouse, M., Nemchin, Alexander, Kemp, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier Science BV 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71593
_version_ 1848762521434980352
author Kielman, R.
Whitehouse, M.
Nemchin, Alexander
Kemp, A.
author_facet Kielman, R.
Whitehouse, M.
Nemchin, Alexander
Kemp, A.
author_sort Kielman, R.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A zircon population from an Archean tonalite sample from southern West Greenland has been used as a source analogue in order to test common methods and approaches applied to ancient detrital zircon populations. Measurements of U-Th-Pb, oxygen and Lu-Hf isotopes as well as rare earth element and Ti concentrations were made in these zircon crystals and, where possible, in multiple areas within a single grain. The population is dominated by oscillatory zoned cores aged 3.82 Ga with an isotopically and compositionally distinct rim that formed at 3.59 Ga. We demonstrate that multiple age components may be erroneously inferred from within these oscillatory zoned zircon cores, both from the total population and within individual grains. This has bearing on other zircon-hosted geochemical systems, as temporal correlations may be incorrectly assigned. Oxygen and Lu-Hf isotope compositions are relatively consistent through the population with only a small number of outliers. Ranges in rare earth element and Ti abundances are evident from the total population, from which apparent inverse cooling trends may be inferred. Additionally, we show that even with enhanced filtering of Ti concentrations using light rare earth element abundances, crystallisation temperatures derived from zircon grains of a single, hand sample sized rock can yield both wide and bimodal results. Since even simple, single “source rock” zircon populations may, without careful scrutiny, portray artificially complex results, particular care must be taken in the interpretation of complex ancient detrital zircon populations.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T10:48:53Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-71593
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:48:53Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Elsevier Science BV
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-715932019-02-12T01:25:26Z A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon Kielman, R. Whitehouse, M. Nemchin, Alexander Kemp, A. A zircon population from an Archean tonalite sample from southern West Greenland has been used as a source analogue in order to test common methods and approaches applied to ancient detrital zircon populations. Measurements of U-Th-Pb, oxygen and Lu-Hf isotopes as well as rare earth element and Ti concentrations were made in these zircon crystals and, where possible, in multiple areas within a single grain. The population is dominated by oscillatory zoned cores aged 3.82 Ga with an isotopically and compositionally distinct rim that formed at 3.59 Ga. We demonstrate that multiple age components may be erroneously inferred from within these oscillatory zoned zircon cores, both from the total population and within individual grains. This has bearing on other zircon-hosted geochemical systems, as temporal correlations may be incorrectly assigned. Oxygen and Lu-Hf isotope compositions are relatively consistent through the population with only a small number of outliers. Ranges in rare earth element and Ti abundances are evident from the total population, from which apparent inverse cooling trends may be inferred. Additionally, we show that even with enhanced filtering of Ti concentrations using light rare earth element abundances, crystallisation temperatures derived from zircon grains of a single, hand sample sized rock can yield both wide and bimodal results. Since even simple, single “source rock” zircon populations may, without careful scrutiny, portray artificially complex results, particular care must be taken in the interpretation of complex ancient detrital zircon populations. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71593 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.08.028 Elsevier Science BV restricted
spellingShingle Kielman, R.
Whitehouse, M.
Nemchin, Alexander
Kemp, A.
A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title_full A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title_fullStr A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title_full_unstemmed A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title_short A tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
title_sort tonalitic analogue to ancient detrital zircon
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71593