Single grain (U-Th)/He ages from phosphates in Acapulco meteorite and implications for thermal history

Abstract

The cooling history of the Acapulco meteorite for >400°C is well established using various chronometers suggesting extremely fast cooling (>1000°C/Ma). In contrast, the thermal history for low temperatures (<400°C) is poorly understood because of large uncertainties in the chronometers applicable to this temperature range. To better constrain the cooling history for the low-temperature range, we applied (U–Th)/He dating techniques to individual phosphate grains. One whitlockite and 11 apatite grains yielded (U–Th)/He ages ranging from 1272±22 (1σ, analytical error only) Ma to 4584±51 Ma, with tight clustering at ∼4.55 Ga. The weighted mean of the five oldest ages (4538±32 Ma, 1σ uncertainty including systematic error) is suggested to be the minimum age representing primary cooling of the Acapulco body passing through ∼120°C. Although it is impossible to precisely quantify the effects of energetic α particle ejection from the outermost ∼20 μm of the phosphates, petrographic evidence suggests that most dated samples are fragments likely derived from the interior of larger grains, thus greatly reducing this source of error. Indeed the five oldest samples cannot have suffered substantial ejection since the uncorrected ages are identical with the crystallization age of the Acapulco meteorite. The new (U–Th)/He data suggest rapid cooling of Acapulco down to ∼120°C. This evidence suggests that the younger ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar age (4507±9 (1σ) Ma) obtained from Acapulco plagioclase, which should reflect cooling through ∼300°C, is spuriously young due to systematic errors (i.e., decay constants and/or standard data) in the ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar method, as suggested by comparison between high-precision ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar and U/Pb ages for terrestrial volcanic rocks. The scattered He age distribution <4.0 Ga implies very heterogeneous thermal disturbances after the primary cooling of the body.