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Accuracy of LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb age determination: An inter-laboratory comparison

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Abstract

LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb dating has been greatly advanced and widely applied in the past decade because it is a cheap and fast technique. The internal error of LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb dating can be better than 1%, but reproducibility (accuracy) is relatively poor. In in order to quantitatively assess the accuracy of this technique, zircons from two dioritic rocks, a Mesozoic dioritic microgranular enclave (FS06) and a Neoproterozoic diorite (WC09-32), were dated independently in eight laboratories using SIMS and LA-ICPMS. Results of three SIMS analyses on FS06 and WC09-2 are indistinguishable within error and give a best estimate of the crystallization age of 132.2 and 760.5 Ma (reproducibility is ∼1%, 2RSD), respectively. Zircon U-Pb ages determined by LA-ICPMS in six laboratories vary from 128.3±1.0 to 135.0±0.9 Ma (2SE) for FS06 and from 742.9±3.1 to 777.8±4.7 Ma (2SE) for WC09-32, suggesting a reproducibility of ∼4% (2RSD). Uncertainty produced during LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb analyses comes from multiple sources, including uncertainty in the isotopic ratio measurements, uncertainty in the fractionation factor calculation using an external standard, uncertainty in the age determination as a result of common lead correction, age uncertainty of the external standards and uncertainty in the data reduction. Result of our study suggests that the uncertainty of LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb dating is approximately 4% (2RSD). The uncertainty in age determination must be considered in order to interpret LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb data rationally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    XianHua Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    XiaoMing Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    YongSheng Liu

  4. Geological Lab Center, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Li Su

  5. State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    WeiDong Sun

  6. NSW Institute of Frontiers Geoscience, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

    HuiQing Huang

  7. Korea Basic Science Institute, Cheongwon, Chungbuk, 363-883, Korea

    Keewook Yi

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  1. XianHua Li
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Correspondence to XianHua Li.

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Li, X., Liu, X., Liu, Y. et al. Accuracy of LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb age determination: An inter-laboratory comparison. Sci. China Earth Sci. 58, 1722–1730 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5110-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5110-x

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