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Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology Applied to Tectonics

2014; Annual Reviews; Volume: 42; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1146/annurev-earth-050212-124012

1545-4495

George E. Gehrels,

Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping

Detrital zircon geochronology is rapidly developing into an essential tool in Earth science research because of the widespread occurrence of zircon in sedimentary systems; the wide range of information that can be extracted from zircon crystals; the ability to determine ages with reasonable precision, accuracy, and efficiency; and the wide range of new ideas about how to use detrital zircon geochronologic information. The U-Pb system is particularly powerful because three chronometers are available ( 238 U→ 206 Pb, 235 U→ 207 Pb, and 232 Th→ 208 Pb), but challenges arise because of complexities from inheritance and Pb loss. Ages can be used to constrain the age of deposition of the host sediment, reconstruct provenance, characterize a sedimentary unit, and characterize many different aspects of source regions. Detrital zircon geochronology has an exciting future given the growth history recorded in individual crystals; the variety of detrital minerals that can provide complementary information; and the large number of geochemical, isotopic, and chronologic systems that can be applied to these minerals.