Geochronology of planetary and resource evolution

锆石(ZrSiO4)等微矿物的U-Pb法测年已成为标定地质年表的基准技术。锆石极慢的体积扩散特性，其在构造和撞击过程中对化学分解的抵抗力，它在广泛的温度、压力和流体环境中的结晶，以及它在资源矿床和早期太阳系材料中的存在，使其成为行星科学和资源地质学越来越重要的工具。以前地质年代学家无法获得的过程现在正在通过将来自晶带的年龄信息与稳定同位素和微量元素成分以及微结构的一致测量配对而被量化。莫泽小组的最新进展为构造板块内高温变形和流体运动的年代学奠定了基础。拟议的计划旨在利用莫泽新建立的实验室中的专门电子束技术来开发这些新的地质年代学方法。其中包括多光谱阴极发光和电子背散射衍射，以揭示含铀微晶中与宿主矿物组合有关的微米到纳米尺度的化学和结构分带。这些关键的材料科学数据将与用于放射性同位素、稳定同位素和微量元素分析的目标区域的离子和激光分析相结合。这一方法将被莫泽日益壮大的HQP团队应用于一系列地球和行星科学项目，其中许多项目涉及与加拿大矿产和勘探行业的合作伙伴关系，或支持北方的经济发展。其中包括：地球上最古老的岩石和加拿大北极地区的钻石勘探前景、在矿化的萨德伯里和弗雷德福德撞击坑中追踪撞击熔体来源、月球地壳陨石样本的演化，以及加拿大西部化石燃料来源地层的高精度测年。共有9名研究生和5名高年级本科生将接受培训，以测量行星过程的年龄和速率，包括那些产生加拿大岩石圈及其资源的过程。

The U-Pb age dating of microminerals such as zircon (ZrSiO4) has become the benchmark technique for calibrating the geologic time scale. The extremely slow volume diffusion properties of zircon, its resistance to chemical breakdown in tectonic and impact processes, its crystallization in a wide range of temperature, pressure and fluid environments, and its occurrence in resource deposits and early solar system materials make it an increasingly important tool for planetary science and resource geology. Processes previously inaccessible to geochronologists are now being quantified through pairing of age information from crystal zones with coincident measurements of stable isotope and trace element composition, and microstructure. Recent progress by Moser's group has laid the foundation for geochronology of high temperature deformation and fluid movement within tectonic plates. The proposed program is designed to develop these new geochronology methods using specialized electron beam techniques in Moser's newly established laboratory. These include multispectral Cathodoluminesence and Electron Backscatter Diffraction to reveal the micro- to nano-scale chemical and structural zoning in U-bearing microcrystals in relation to the host mineral assemblages. This critical material science data will be coupled with ion and laser beam analysis of targeted domains for radiogenic isotope, stable isotope and trace element analysis. This methodology will be applied by Moser's growing team of HQP in a range of earth and planetary science projects many of which involve partnership with the Canadian mineral and exploration industry or support economic development in the North. These include; Earth's oldest rocks and the diamond prospectivity of Arctic Canada, tracing impact melt sources in the mineralized Sudbury and Vredefort impact craters, the evolution of meteorite samples of the lunar crust, and the high precision dating of source strata for fossil fuels in Western Canada. A total of nine graduate students and five senior undergraduate students will be trained to measure ages and rates of planetary processes including those which generated the Canadian lithosphere and its resources.