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The exhumation history of orogenic belts from 40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital micas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

F. M. Stuart
F. M. Stuart*
Affiliation:
Isotope Geosciences Unit, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK
*
*E-mail: f.stuart@suerc.gla.ac.uk
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Abstract

The exhumation history of mountain belts can be derived from radiometric dating of detrital mineral grains in proximal and distal post- and synorogenic sediments. The application of single-crystal dating techniques avoids the averaging effect that characterizes multi-grain and whole-rock techniques and allows the identification of populations of grains with distinct thermal histories. Of the major single crystal dating methods available, 40Ar/39Ar dating of detrital K-bearing minerals, in particular white mica, is perhaps the most versatile and widely applied technique. For a closure temperature of Ar of 350–400°C, muscovite 40Ar/39Ar ages record the time a rock mass passed through 8–10 km beneath actively eroding mountain belts. Detrital muscovit ages eroded from orogenic mountain belts have been used extensively to identify the provenance of sediments from source regions with distinct thermal histories, determine the history and rate of exhumation of the source region, and provide an upper limit on the sediment age. Here I review the principles of 40Ar/39Ar dating of detrital muscovite and illustrate the method with examples showing how the provenance and the thermal history of sediment source regions derived from such studies can be used to constrain the exhumation and tectonic history of orogenic belts.

Keywords

Ar/Armuscoviteerosiondepositionprovenance
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , February 2002 , pp. 121 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2002

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