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  3. Photoluminescence Imaging of Whole Zircon Grains on a Petrographic Microscope—An Underused Aide for Geochronologic Studies

Photoluminescence Imaging of Whole Zircon Grains on a Petrographic Microscope—An Underused Aide for Geochronologic Studies

Dates

Publication Date
Start Date
2017
End Date
2020

Citation

McAleer, R.J., Jubb, A.J., Hackley, P.C., Walsh, G.J., Merschat, A.J., Regan, S.P., Burton, W.C., and Vazquez, J.A., 2020, Photoluminescence Imaging of Whole Zircon Grains on a Petrographic Microscope—An Underused Aide for Geochronologic Studies, U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P90HZLMS.

Summary

The refractory nature of zircon to temperature and pressure allows even a single zircon grain to preserve a rich history of magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal processes. Isotopic dating of micro-domains exposed in cross-sections of zircon grains allows us to interrogate this history. Unfortunately, our ability to select the zircon grains in a heavy mineral concentrate that records the most geochronologic information is limited by our inability to predict internal zonation from observations of whole zircon grains. Here we document the use of a petrographic microscope to observe and image the photoluminescence (PL) response of whole zircon grains excited under ultraviolet (UV) light, and the utility of this PL response in selecting [...]

Contacts

Point of Contact :
Ryan McAleer
Originator :
Ryan McAleer, Aaron M Jubb, Paul C Hackley, Gregory J Walsh, Arthur J Merschat, Sean P Regan, William C Burton, Jorge A Vazquez
Metadata Contact :
Ryan McAleer
Publisher :
U.S. Geological Survey
Distributor :
U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
SDC Data Owner :
Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
USGS Mission Area :
Core Science Systems

Attached Files

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Photoluminescence Imaging of WholeDraft XML_Reordered.xml
Original FGDC Metadata
View 		32.8 KB application/fgdc+xml
Zircon_data.csv 8.3 KB text/csv
ZIrcon_data_data_dictionary.csv 3.91 KB text/csv
Figure_6_data.csv 763 Bytes text/csv
Figure_6_data_dictionary.csv 354 Bytes text/csv

Purpose

The reported datasets were obtained from unmounted and mounted and cross-sectioned zircon grains. The purpose was to determine the relationship between photoluminescence of zircon under UV excitation, and trace element composition and radiation damage—and to evaluate the potential utility of this information in geochronologic studies.

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Type Scheme Key
DOI https://www.sciencebase.gov/vocab/category/item/identifier doi:10.5066/P90HZLMS

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