LA-ICPMS U-Pb dating of titanite: New constraints on multistage geological evolution of the Norrbotten mining district, Sweden

This effect is referred to as discordance and is demonstrated in Figure 1. If, for example, we apply U-Pb dating to a grain of zircon found in , we aren't dating the formation of the sandstone, we're dating the formation of the that the zircon came from; all we could say about the sandstone is that it must be younger than that. Both are unstable and radioactive, shedding nuclear particles in a cascade that doesn't stop until they become lead Pb.

It is important however, that the half-life of an element is defined in terms of probability and is not the time required for exactly 50% of a given quantity to decay e. Radioactive decay schemes are suitable for dating minerals and rocks and are listed in Table 1. These zonations can preserve growth events separated by billions of years of Earth history. Zircon is very chemically inert and resistant to mechanical weathering—a mixed blessing for geochronologists, as zones or even whole crystals can survive melting of their parent rock with their original uranium-lead age intact.

Common lead-corrected laser ablation ICP–MS U–Pb systematics and geochronology of titanite - A speleothem, more colloquially known as a cave formation, is formed when minerals dissolved in water out of the water as it drips, seeps, or flows into a cave. Therefore using measured decay constants and the rate at which radionuclides decay, geochronologists can harness this relationship to calculate the amount of time that has passed since an assumed volume of material began accumulating radiogenic material.
