Standardless LA-ICP-MS fission-track dating in apatite: comparison with uranium thin film and LA-ICP-MS ζ-calibration
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Over the past two decades, the fission-track community has sought to calibrate the ages with LA-ICP-MS. This technique has not only made thermochronology faster but also enabled the determination of U-Pb ages and the measurements of trace elements which support geological interpretation. In this study we present an adjusted age equation for absolute LA-ICP-MS approach, herein referred to as the 𝝍-method, and compare the pooled and grain-by-grain ages with absolute approach based on nuclear reactor (uranium-thin-film based Ø- method) using one aliquot of Durango apatite. Both methods do not require a standard to obtain fission-track ages. In the absolute approach, every parameter in the age equation must be determined with certain precision. Therefore, an experiment was carried out to determine uranium concentration using matrix-matched reference materials (apatite MT-7) and compare with NIST SRM 610, which enables us to verify if there is the potential matrix interference for uranium determination. After that, a series of apatite ages were then calculated. For this purpose, two data sets were used: 1) standard ages (Durango, FCT and Limberg) as well as Mud Tank, which represent the low annealing samples (~ 10%) and 2) samples with moderate annealing (> 10%). In both cases, track length must be considered, as the reduced track length yields proportional reduced fission-track ages. For the first set, the 𝝍 -method was the only method applied once the ages are well-known, while the ages from second set were compared with LA-ICP-MS zeta calibration ( ζ ICP ). The results show a consistent age between methods.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Subfield: Geochemistry and Petrology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7163074591