Advances in 40Ar/39Ar Dating: From Archaeology to Planetary Sciences
Decoding the complete history of Earth and our solar system requires the placing of the scattered pages of Earth history in a precise chronological order, and the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique is one of the most trusted dating techniques to do that. The 40Ar/39Ar method has been in use for more than 40 years, and has constantly evolved since then. The steady improvement of the technique is largely due to a better understanding of the K/Ar system, an appreciation of the subtleties of geological material and a continuous refinement of the analytical tools used for isotope extraction and counting. The 40Ar/39Ar method is also one of the most versatile techniques with countless applications in archaeology, tectonics, structural geology, orogenic processes and provenance studies, ore and petroleum genesis, volcanology, weathering processes and climate, and planetary geology. This volume is the first of its kind and covers methodological developments, modelling, data handling, and direct applications of the 40Ar/39Ar technique.
Timing of geothermal activity in an active island-arc volcanic setting: First 40Ar/39Ar dating from Bouillante geothermal field (Guadeloupe, French West Indies)
-
Published:January 01, 2014
-
CiteCitation
C. Verati, P. Patrier-Mas, J. M. Lardeaux, V. Bouchot, 2014. "Timing of geothermal activity in an active island-arc volcanic setting: First 40Ar/39Ar dating from Bouillante geothermal field (Guadeloupe, French West Indies)", Advances in 40Ar/39Ar Dating: From Archaeology to Planetary Sciences, F. Jourdan, D. F. Mark, C. Verati
Download citation file:
- Share
Abstract
Mineral separates of adularia have been extracted from three samples of highly silicified hydrothermal breccias, newly discovered in the active Bouillante geothermal field (Guadeloupe archipelago), and investigated by 40Ar/39Ar geochronology in order to constrain the timing of geothermal activity in this part of the active Lesser Antilles island arc. The inverse isochron diagram indicates an age of 248±50 ka (2σ) for all adularia from one breccia sample (n=8), with an initial 40Ar/36Ar ratio of atmospheric composition (309±12 (2σ)) attesting that this age is valid. This age is concordant with the weighted mean age of 290±40 ka for the same sample. Adularia from other samples yields concordant ages. The obtained 40Ar/39Ar ages can be related either to the magmatic activity of the Bouillante Volcanic Chain (c. 850–250 ka ago) or to the initiation of the volcanic activity of the active Grande Découverte–Soufrière system (200 ka ago–present day). Our results demonstrate that the Bouillante hydrothermal event is coeval with change in the volcanic pulses previously recognized in the magmatic history of the studied area. The possible duration calculated for this hydrothermal activity requires at least two superposed volcanic pulses to be developed.
- absolute age
- adularia
- alkali feldspar
- Antilles
- Ar-40/Ar-36
- Ar/Ar
- argon
- breccia
- Caribbean region
- Cenozoic
- dates
- feldspar group
- framework silicates
- geothermal fields
- Guadeloupe
- island arcs
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- La Grande Soufriere
- Lesser Antilles
- noble gases
- Quaternary
- silicates
- stable isotopes
- volcanic belts
- volcanism
- volcanoes
- West Indies
- Grande Decouverte
- Bouillante Field