Collaborative Research: Development of 40Ar/39Ar Intercalibration Pipettes

钾（K）是地球上最丰富的元素之一。地壳中发现了许多岩石形成的矿物。K的同位素之一，40 K具有放射性，可衰变为40 Ar。这一方案构成了应用于岩石和矿物的最常见的地质年代学技术之一的物理基础。近年来，一种特殊的技术，需要中子轰击样品，以产生39 Ar从39 K已成为比传统的青睐？K-Ar？方法，称为40 Ar/39 Ar方法。事实上，40 Ar/39 Ar放射性同位素测年法在任何地质年代计中具有最广泛的适用性，从早期太阳系形成（约45.6亿年前）到2,000年前的火山物质都很有用。这些研究涵盖的主题包括火山和地震灾害、矿化事件的时间和程度、全球气候变化和变异、古地磁反转时间尺度以及化石记录的年代测定，包括人类进化。 因此，任何对40 Ar/39 Ar方法准确性和精确度的改进都将提高我们对地质作用时间和速率的理解。尽管精确度堪称典范，但最近通过EARTHTIME倡议进行的实验显示了显著的实验室间不一致性，例如不同实验室确定的年龄可能会相差4%，大约比典型的测量精度大一个数量级。已查明造成这些差异的四个可能原因：1）参与实验室采用的数据简化协议的差异; 2）用于收集数据的质谱仪源/检测器系统的未考虑的非线性; 3）矿物标准中未被识别的异质性或某些样品包中中子辐照剂量变化引起的实验人为因素;（4）不同实验室分析的透长石中Ar的不完全脱气或同位素分馏。该研究项目通过开发一种氩移液管系统来解决实验室间一致性的问题，该系统将在美国参与的40 Ar/39 Ar实验室之间移动。移液管系统将输送具有完全相同的同位素组成和相似的气体体积的气体样品，从而控制与天然样品的异质性相关的变量和问题。此外，还将测量来自移液管系统的可变气体样品体积，以评估惰性气体质谱仪的响应线性。这项研究的最终目标是相互校准各种NSF支持的40 Ar/39 Ar实验室，并允许直接比较参与实验室产生的年龄，在0.1%或更好的水平。移液管系统的长期使用将保持40 Ar/39 Ar实验室之间的校准。本科生和研究生将携带相互校准移液器进行测量。这将使学生有机会看到，工作，并与来自不同的40 Ar/39 Ar实验室的人员互动，并作为下一代地质年代学家/同位素地球化学家的独特培训机会。

Potassium (K), one of the more abundant elements in the Earth?s crust is found in many rock forming minerals. One of the isotopes of K, 40K is radioactive and decays to 40Ar. This scheme forms the physical basis for one of the most common geochronologic techniques applied to rocks and minerals. In recent years, a special technique requiring neutron bombardment of samples to produce 39Ar from 39K has become more favored than the traditional ?K-Ar? method, referred to as the 40Ar/39Ar method. In fact, the 40Ar/39Ar method of radioisotopic dating has the broadest range of applicability of any geochronometer, being useful from early solar system formation (~4.56 billion years ago) to volcanic materials as young as 2,000 years old. These studies cover topics such as volcanic and seismic hazards, timing and extent of mineralization events, global climate change and variability, paleomagnetic reversal timescale, and dating the fossil record, including human evolution. Thus any improvement in the accuracy and precision 40Ar/39Ar method will improve our understanding of the timing and rates of geologic processes.Despite exemplary precision, recent experiments conducted via the EARTHTIME initiative have revealed significant interlaboratory inconsistencies such that ages determined by different labs may vary by us much as 4 %, approximately an order of magnitude larger than typical reported measurement precision. Four possible causes for these discrepancies have been identified; 1) differences in the data reduction protocols employed by the participating laboratories; 2) unaccounted nonlinearity of the mass spectrometer source/detector systems used to collect the data; 3) unrecognized heterogeneity in the mineral standards or an experimental artifact arising from variations in neutron irradiation dosage in some of the sample packages; and 4) incomplete degassing or isotopic fractionation of Ar from the analyzed sanidines in various laboratories. This research project addresses the issue of interlaboratory consistency by developing an argon pipette system that will travel between the participating 40Ar/39Ar labs within the United States. The pipette system will deliver gas samples with exactly the same isotopic composition(s) and similar gas volume(s), thus controlling the variables and issues associated with heterogeneity of natural samples. In addition, variable gas sample volumes from the pipette system will also be measured to assess the response linearity of noble gas mass spectrometers. The ultimate goal of this study is to intercalibrate the various NSF supported 40Ar/39Ar laboratories and allow for the direct comparison of the ages produced from the participating labs, at the level of 0.1% or better. The long-term use of the pipette system will maintain the calibration between the 40Ar/39Ar laboratories. Undergraduate and graduate students will be traveling with the intercalibration pipette assisting with the measurements. This will provide the students the opportunity to see, work, and interact with personnel from the different 40Ar/39Ar laboratories and serve as a unique training opportunity for the next generation of geochronologist/isotope geochemists.