Abstract
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 (238U→ 206Pb, 235U→207Pb, and 232Th→208Pb), 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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 127-149 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |
Volume | 42 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2014 |
Keywords
- Detrital zircons
- Maximum depositional age
- Provenance
- Tectonics
- U-Pb geochronology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Space and Planetary Science