Abstract
The precise dating of mineral deposits has important implications for understanding the lifetime of ore-forming systems and their temporal relationship to various geological events. Not all deposits provide material suitable for conventional radiometric dating, or data which are amenable to unequivocal interpretation. Nor is it easy to verify that such samples have remained isotopically ‘closed’ since their formation. Fluid inclusions provide an alternative ‘closed system’ approach. By analysing the isotopic composition of Rband Sr in inclusions within quartz from the Carrock Fell tungsten vein deposits, Cumbria, we demonstrate here the feasibility of obtaining Rb–Sr fluid inclusion isochrons. The age for the mineralization 392 ± 5 Myr is in good agreement with the mean K–Ar age 387 ± 6 Myr for the vein micas, and confirms the significance of fluid inclusions as precise Rb–Sr geochronometers.
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Shepherd, T., Darbyshire, D. Fluid inclusion Rb–Sr isochrons for dating mineral deposits. Nature 290, 578–579 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/290578a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/290578a0
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