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Precise dating of low-temperature deformation: Strain-fringe analysis by ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar laser microprobe

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
² Department of Geology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
³ British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
⁴ National Environment Research Council Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
⁵ British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK

Pyritized graptolites from the Welsh Basin (United Kingdom) slate belt acted as rigid bodies during cleavage formation, and epizonal white micas formed within the resulting strain shadows, orthogonal to the principal stress orientation. Although the quantities of mica are small, they are a pure synkinematic mineral and have been dated by ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar infrared laser microprobe as a means to dating cleavage. Four samples of strain-fringe mica from different hand samples yielded ages ranging from 394.4 ± 3.1 to 397.8 ± 1.8 Ma (2), with a mean age of 396.1 ± 1.4 Ma (2). By focusing on minerals that are unequivocally synkinematic, this technique provides a novel solution to the problems of isotopically dating slaty cleavage. Previous studies have predominantly relied on dating whole-rock slate samples or separated illite grains by ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar techniques; problems encountered included (1) separating the effects of isotopic contamination by detrital phases, (2) ³⁹Ar loss during the irradiation of illite mineral separates, and (3) thermally induced ⁴⁰Ar loss in nature from fine-grained minerals. By circumventing these problems, this new method provides the first unequivocal and high-precision age data for Acadian deformation in the well-characterized Welsh Basin slate belt. With such precision, the method may afford geologists the opportunity to track tectonic fronts across orogens and assess the rates of accretion processes in areas that are peripheral to sites of continent-continent collision.

Key Words: ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar laserprobe • low temperature • slate • deformation • geochronology • Acadian

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