Heat transfer in the solid Earth drives processes that modify temperatures, leaving behind a clear signature that we can measure using noble gas thermochronology. This allows us to record the thermal histories of rocks and obtain the timing, rate, and magnitude of phenomena such as erosion, deformation, and fluid flow. This is done by measuring the net balance between the accumulation of noble gas atoms from radioactive decay and their loss by temperature-activated diffusion in mineral grains. Together with knowledge about noble gas diffusion in common minerals, we can then use inverse models of this accumulation–diffusion balance to recover thermal histories. This approach is now a mainstream method by which to study geodynamics and Earth evolution.
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October 01, 2020
Noble Gases Deliver Cool Dates from Hot Rocks Available to Purchase
Cécile Gautheron;
Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, GEOPS, 91405, Orsay, France
E-mail: [email protected]
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Peter K. Zeitler
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
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E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
First Online:
06 Nov 2020
Online ISSN: 1811-5217
Print ISSN: 1811-5209
Copyright © 2020 by the Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
Elements (2020) 16 (5): 303–309.
Article history
First Online:
06 Nov 2020
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CitationCécile Gautheron, Peter K. Zeitler; Noble Gases Deliver Cool Dates from Hot Rocks. Elements 2020;; 16 (5): 303–309. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.16.5.303
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- applications
- Ar-39
- Ar-40
- Ar/Ar
- argon
- deformation
- diffusion
- erosion
- fluid flow
- geochronology
- He-3
- He-4
- heat transfer
- helium
- history
- isotopes
- K/Ar
- landform evolution
- landscapes
- models
- noble gases
- radioactive decay
- radioactive isotopes
- stable isotopes
- temperature
- thermal history
- thermochronology
- (U-Th)/He
- closure temperature
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