Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Guillong, Marcel
• Wotzlaw, Jörn-Frederik
• Looser, Nathan
• Laurent, Oscar

Titel

Evaluating the reliability of U–Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) carbonate geochronology: matrix issues and a potential calcite validation reference material

Ist Teil von

• Geochronology, 2020-06, Vol.2 (1), p.155-167

Ort / Verlag

Copernicus Publications

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We document that the reliability of carbonate U–Pb dating by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is improved by matching the aspect ratio of the LA single-hole drilling craters and propagating long-term excess variance and systematic uncertainties. We investigated the impact of different matrices and ablation crater geometries using U–Pb isotope analyses of one primary (WC-1) and two secondary reference materials (RMs). Validation RMs (VRMs) include a previously characterised one (ASH-15D) and a new candidate (JT), characterised by ID-TIMS (intercept age: 13.797±0.031 Ma) with excellent agreement to pooled LA-ICP-MS measurements (13.75±0.11 | 0.36 Ma), a U concentration of approx. 1 µg g−1 and 238U∕206Pb ratios from 5 to 460, defining the isochron well. Differences in ablation crater depth to diameter ratios (aspect ratio) introduce an offset due to downhole fractionation and/or matrix effects. This effect can be observed either when the crater size between U–Pb RM and the sample changes or when the ablation rate for the sample is different than for the RM. Observed deviations are up to 20 % of the final intercept age depending on the degree of crater geometry mismatch. The long-term excess uncertainty was calculated to be in the range of 2 % (ASH-15D) to 2.5 % (JT), and we recommend propagating this uncertainty into the uncertainty of the final results. Additionally, a systematic offset to the ID-TIMS age of 2 %–3 % was observed for ASH-15D but not for JT. This offset might be due to different ablation rates of ASH-15D compared to the primary RM or remaining matrix effects, even when the aspect ratios chosen are similar.