Sub-micron-scale variations in Ti abundance in zircon

Abstract

The Ti-in-zircon geothermometer [1,2] can constrain growth and/or re-equilibration temperatures of zircons and is particularly useful for constraining Archean and Hadean events where detrital zircon is the only surviving mineral. Zircons are often small (ca. <100 µm in the long dimension) and preserve evidence of fine-scale (sub-micron) compositional zonation. Methods for determining Ti adbundances in natural zircons typically analyze domains 10s of microns across, which must average fine-scale compositional variations. Although Ti can correlate with coarse cathodoluminescence (CL) zones (e.g., [3]), it is unknown whether Ti exhibits fine-scale variations and thus may be compromised by coarse-scale measurements.

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