New advances in Ar-Ar geochronology and applications to geoscience

最有用的岩石定年方法之一（“地质年代学”）是基于钾（40 K）到氩（40 Ar）的放射性衰变，它在地质和天文时间的巨大跨度中充当长寿的时钟。40 Ar/39 Ar测年技术是K-Ar测年方法的一种变体，被认为是目前世界各地研究实验室使用的最强大的工具之一。要理解我们从这些时钟中获得的年龄的重要性，需要详细了解元素原子和离子如何在岩石和晶体中移动，它们在其中积累，这是一个被称为扩散的基本过程。许多因素，如晶体结构，矿物化学，Ar溶解度，以及晶体结构中存在的缺陷或瑕疵控制扩散行为和这些因素的影响将在实验室实验中进行研究，并通过数值模拟在两个最常见的岩石形成和通常过时的矿物-云母和长石。对这些影响的进一步了解可能会解释使用不同地质年代学时钟的不同矿物之间的神秘年龄差异，其中BC东南部的岩石将作为理想的实地实验。 关于所有这些基本控制因素的知识将应用于拉丁美洲和南美洲的重大地质问题，以确定大约4.5亿年前墨西哥周围岩石圈板块运动的时间，测试安第斯山脉中部大型金矿形成的模型，并改进该区域这些矿床的勘探战略，这是加拿大采矿业的主要投资领域。因此，拟议的研究解决了几个基本的，但在地质年代学，矿床形成和板块构造相关的问题。

One of the most useful methods of dating rocks ("geochronology") is based on the radioactive decay of potassium (40K) to argon (40Ar), which serves as a long-lived clock over the vast span of geologic and astronomic time. The 40Ar/39Ar dating technique - a variant of the K-Ar dating method - is considered to be one of the most powerful tools currently used in research laboratories worldwide. Understanding the significance of the ages we obtain from such clocks requires a detailed understanding of how the elemental atoms and ions can move through the rocks and crystals in which they accumulate, in a fundamental process known as diffusion. Many factors such as crystal structure, mineral chemistry, Ar solubility, and the presence of defects or flaws in the crystal structure control diffusional behaviour and the effect of these factors will be studied in laboratory experiments and through numerical modelling in two of the most common rock-forming and commonly dated minerals - mica and feldspar. Improved knowledge of these effects may explain enigmatic age discrepancies between different minerals using different geochronological clocks, where rocks in southeastern BC will serve as an ideal field experiment.  Knowledge of all of these fundamental controls will be applied to significant geological problems in Latin and South America, in order to determine the timing of the motions of lithospheric plates around Mexico around 450 million years ago, test models for the formation of large gold deposits in the central Andes, and improve exploration strategies for these deposits in the region, which is a major area of investment for the Canadian mining industry. Thus, the proposed research addresses several fundamental but related questions in geochronology, ore-deposit formation, and plate tectonics.