Fission-track Thermochronology

Marc Jolivet is a researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, and is a geomorphologist interested in the long-term evolution of continental landscapes. He uses fissiontrack thermochronology to quantify vertical movements and erosion rates with a special interest in flat intracontinental surfaces.

• IntroductionMarc JOLIVETChapter 1 Introduction to Detrital Apatite and Zircon Fission-track Thermochronology 1Matthias BERNET1.1 Introduction 11.2 Principals of fission-track dating 41.2.1. Basics of single grain apatite and zircon fission-track analysis 41.2.2 Closure temperature concept 61.2.3 Partial annealing zone concept 91.3 Sample preparation and fission-track dating 121.3.1 Sample preparation 121.3.2 External detector method 201.3.3 Track lengths measurements and track lengths distributions 231.4 Statistics of fission-track dating 271.4.1 Age equation, pooled age, central age, χ2-test and age dispersion 271.5 Detrital thermochronology 321.5.1 Continuous and discrete mixtures of detrital cooling ages 321.5.2 Peak fitting and minimum age model 341.5.3 Recognizing partial and full annealing in detrital fission-track data sets 361.6 Applications of detrital thermochronology 401.6.1 Studying source-to-sink relationships 401.6.2 Exhumation studies 431.6.3 Thermal histories of sedimentary basins 471.7 Concluding remarks 491.8 References 49Chapter 2 Thermal History Modeling for Thermochronology 63Kerry GALLAGHER2.1 Introduction 632.2 Modeling diffusion and annealing 662.2.1 Diffusion 662.2.2 Annealing 692.3 Thermal history modeling 712.3.1 Forward modeling: making predictions to compare to observations 712.3.2 Examples of forward modeling 732.3.3 Inverse modeling: using observations to infer the thermal history 782.3.4 Examples of inverse modeling 812.4 Summary 872.5 References 88Chapter 3 LA-ICP-MS 238 U Determination for Fission-track Dating 93Nathan COGNÉ3.1 Introduction 933.2 Zeta approach for LA-ICPMS 973.3 Absolute versus relative determination of U concentration 983.3.1 Absolute determination 983.3.2 Relative determination 1013.4 Statistical data processing 1053.4.1 Data dispersion 1063.4.2 Calculation of the 238U/ XX Ratio Error 1073.4.3 The problem of zero track crystals 1093.5 Sample preparation and data acquisition for LA-ICP-MS dating 1093.5.1 Preparing the mounts 1093.5.2 Crystal counting and coordinates 1113.5.3 Laser analytical conditions 1113.6 Comparison of EDM and LA-ICP-MS methods 1123.6.1 Advantages of the LA-ICP-MS method 1123.6.2 The problem of uranium zonation 1133.6.3 Comparison of EDM and LA-ICP-MS methods 1143.7 Conclusion 1153.8 References 116Chapter 4 (U-Th-(Sm))/He Thermochronometry and Chronometry: Principles, Applications and Limits 121Cécile GAUTHERON, Stéphanie BRICHAU, Raphael PIK and Laurent TASSAN-GOT4.1 Introduction 1214.2 Principle of the (U-Th-(Sm))/He 1224.2.1 4He production 1224.2.2 Ejection, implantation and He loss correction 1244.2.3 He diffusion 1284.2.4 Helium closure temperature and partial retention zone 1354.2.5 (U-Th-(Sm))/He methods 1364.3 Analytical methods (U-Th-(Sm))/He and 4He/ 3He 1384.3.1 Crystal sorting and selection 1384.3.2 Analysis of 4He and 3He concentrations 1424.3.3 Analysis of uranium, thorium and samarium concentrations 1424.3.4 Reproducibility of (U-Th-(Sm))/He ages 1424.3.5 Data inversion 1434.4 (U-Th-(Sm))/He and 4He/ 3He methods on various minerals 1434.4.1 Apatite 1454.4.2 Zircon 1504.4.3 Iron oxides and hydroxides (hematite, magnetite and goethite) 1534.5 Examples of geological applications 1544.5.1 Landform formation and evolution 1564.5.2 Records of landform formation in fore-chain sedimentary basins 1594.5.3 Long-term evolution of continental crust 1604.5.4 Faults and tectonics 1624.5.5 Early orogenesis and inversion of passive margins in the Pyrenees 1664.6 Limitations 1694.7 Acknowledgments 1694.8 References 169Chapter 5 Application of Low-Temperature Thermochronology to the Dating and Quantification of Tectonic Movements: The Example of Asia 187Marc JOLIVET5.1 Introduction 1875.2 A few reminders of the principles of fission-track thermochronology 1905.3 The contribution of fission tracks to understanding the India–Asia collision 1925.3.1 Fission track ages in Asia and their relationship to landforms 1925.3.2 The exhumation of Cenozoic chains 1945.3.3 Areas with very low exhumation rates: the Mongolian and Siberian ranges 2095.4 Conclusion 2115.5 References 212Conclusion 227Marc JOLIVETList of Authors 233Index 235