Showing papers by "Blair Schoene published in 2019"

U-Pb constraints on pulsed eruption of the Deccan Traps across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Abstract: Temporal correlation between some continental flood basalt eruptions and mass extinctions has been proposed to indicate causality, with eruptive volatile release driving environmental degradation and extinction. We tested this model for the Deccan Traps flood basalt province, which, along with the Chicxulub bolide impact, is implicated in the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction approximately 66 million years ago. We estimated Deccan eruption rates with uranium-lead (U-Pb) zircon geochronology and resolved four high-volume eruptive periods. According to this model, maximum eruption rates occurred before and after the K-Pg extinction, with one such pulse initiating tens of thousands of years prior to both the bolide impact and extinction. These findings support extinction models that incorporate both catastrophic events as drivers of environmental deterioration associated with the K-Pg extinction and its aftermath.

Stepwise chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry with trace element analysis of microfractured Hadean zircon

Abstract: . The Hadean Jack Hills zircons represent the oldest known terrestrial material, providing a unique and truly direct record of Hadean Earth history. This zircon population has been extensively studied via high-spatial-resolution high-throughput in situ isotopic and elemental analysis techniques, such as secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS), but not by comparatively destructive, high-temporal-precision ( % two-sigma) thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). In order to better understand the lead loss and alteration history of terrestrial Hadean zircons, we conduct stepwise chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry with trace element analysis (CA-ID-TIMS-TEA) on manually microfractured Hadean Jack Hills zircon fragments previously dated by SIMS. We conducted three successive HF leaching steps on each individual zircon fragment, followed by column chromatography to isolate U–Pb and trace element fractions. Following isotopic and elemental analysis, the result is an independent age and trace element composition for each leachate of each zircon fragment. We observe ∼50 Myr of age heterogeneity in concordant residues from a single zircon grain, along with a protracted history of post-Hadean Pb loss with at least two modes circa ∼0 and 2–4 Ga. Meanwhile, stepwise leachate trace element chemistry reveals enrichments of light rare earth elements, uranium, thorium, and radiogenic lead in early leached domains relative to the zircon residue. In addition to confirming the efficacy of the LREE-I alteration index and providing new insight into the mechanism of chemical abrasion, the interpretation and reconciliation of these results suggest that Pb loss is largely driven by low-temperature aqueous recrystallization and that regional thermal events may act to halt – not initiate – Pb loss from metamict domains in the Hadean Jack Hills zircons.

Stepwise chemical abrasion ID-TIMS-TEA of microfractured Hadean zircon

Abstract: . The Hadean Jack Hills zircons represent the oldest known terrestrial material, providing a unique and truly direct record of Hadean Earth history. This zircon population has been extensively studied via high spatial resolution, high throughput in situ isotopic and elemental analysis techniques such as secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS), but not by comparatively destructive, high-temporal-precision ( LREE-I alteration index and providing new insight into the mechanism of chemical abrasion, the interpretation and reconciliation of these results suggests that Pb-loss is largely driven by low-temperature aqueous recrystallization, and that regional thermal events may act to halt – not initiate – Pb-loss from metamict domains in the Hadean Jack Hills zircons.

The AGeS2 (Awards for Geochronology Student research 2) Program: Supporting Community Geochronology Needs and Interdisciplinary Science

Abstract: Rebecca M. Flowers, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; J Ramón Arrowsmith, Arizona State University, School of Earth & Space Exploration, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA; Vicki McConnell, Geological Society of America, 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA; James R. Metcalf, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Tammy Rittenour, Dept. of Geology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA; and Blair Schoene, Dept. of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA