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The Val Fredda igneous complex in the southern Adamello batholith (N. Italy) consists of dioritic to gabbroic sills and dykes that were injected at 6-10km depth into partly crystallized tonalites and granodiorites. High-precision U-Pb age determinations by chemical abrasion-isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) show very similar dispersion of zircon U-Pb dates over 90-200ka and identical age distributions with a dominant mode at 42.5Ma for six samples ranging in composition from gabbro to granodiorite. The co-variation of the probability density curves of zircon dates from mafic and felsic units suggests that they shared a common thermal history with periods of enhanced and reduced zircon growth, reflecting lowered and increased magma temperatures, respectively. However, trace element compositions, Ti-in-zircon temperatures and Hf isotopic compositions of zircon from mafic lithologies are distinctly different from those in felsic zircon and suggest their crystallization occurred in isotopically and chemically diverse magma batches. These magma batches formed in the lower crust from mingling and mixing of residual melts (derived from fractional crystallization of mainly amphibole from basaltic melt) with crustal partial melts at high temperatures above zircon saturation. Zircons crystallized during incipient cooling of these magmas and were entrained into the ascending melts, which were emplaced and rapidly solidified in the upper crust. The reported age dispersions imply that fractional crystallization and hybridization in the lower-to-middle crust, ascent into the upper crust and solidification did not last for more than 200ka. The small magma volumes and flux also preclude significant zircon crystallization at the upper crustal emplacement level.

The Adamello intrusive suite is a composite batholith in Northern Italy, with an estimated 2000 km3 volume, assembled incrementally over a time span of 10 to 12 million years. The history of crystallization has been studied in detail through laser ablation ICP-MS and SIMS U–Pb geochronology of zircon, which records prolonged crystallization of each of the different intrusive units at mid-crustal levels between 43·47 and 33·16 Ma. The magmas were episodically extracted from this storage area and ascended to the final intrusion level at ∼6 km paleo-depth. Each batch of melt cooled very rapidly down to the ambient temperature of 250°C, evidenced by distinct cooling paths recorded by amphibole, biotite and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar dates. The magma source area was moving from SW to NE with time, causing increasing thermal maturity in the mid-crustal reservoir. The resulting temporal trend of higher degrees of crustal assimiliation in the course of the evolution of the magmatic system can be traced through Hf and O isotopes in zircon. Rough estimates of magma emplacement rates (‘magma flux’) yield very low values in the range of 10-4 km3/yr, typical of mid-to-upper crustal plutons and increase with time. Although we cannot discern a decrease of magma flux from our own data, we anticipate that a dramatic decrease of magma flux between 33 and 31 Ma along the northern contact lead to cessation of magma emplacement.

The Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse sediments represent the last cycle of clastic sedimentation during the evolution of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. They are characterized by small-scale lateral and temporal facies changes that make intra-basin stratigraphic correlations at regional scale difficult. This study provides new U–Pb zircon ages as well as revised 40Ar/ 39Ar data of volcanic ash horizons in the Upper Freshwater Molasse sediments from southern Germany and Switzerland. In a first and preliminary attempt, we propose their possible correlation to other European tephra deposits. The U–Pb zircon data of one Swiss (Bischofszell) and seven southern German (Zahling, Hachelstuhl, Laimering, Unterneul, Krumbad, Ponholz) tuff horizons indicate eruption ages between roughly 13.0 and 15.5 Ma. The stratigraphic position of the Unterneul and Laimering tuffs, bracketing the ejecta of the Ries impact (Brockhorizon), suggests that the Ries impact occurred between 14.93 and 15.00 Ma, thus assigning the event to the reversed chron C5Bn1r (15.032–14.870 Ma) which is in accordance with paleomagnetic evidence. We combine our data with published ages of tuff horizons from Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria, Styria, Hungary, and Romania to derive a preliminary tephrochronological scheme for the Middle Miocene in Central Europe in the age window from 13.2 to 15.5 Ma. The scheme is based on the current state of knowledge that the Carpathian–Pannonian volcanic field was the only area in the region producing explosive calc-alkaline felsic volcanism. This preliminary scheme will require verification by more high-quality ages complemented by isotopic, geochemical and paleomagnetic data.

© 2018 The Authors. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Geoanalysts Here, we document a detailed characterisation of two zircon gemstones, GZ7 and GZ8. Both stones had the same mass at 19.2 carats (3.84 g) each; both came from placer deposits in the Ratnapura district, Sri Lanka. The U-Pb data are in both cases concordant within the uncertainties of decay constants and yield weighted mean206Pb/238U ages (95% confidence uncertainty) of 530.26 Ma ± 0.05 Ma (GZ7) and 543.92 Ma ± 0.06 Ma (GZ8). Neither GZ7 nor GZ8 have been subjected to any gem enhancement by heating. Structure-related parameters correspond well with the calculated alpha doses of 1.48 × 1018 g-1(GZ7) and 2.53 × 1018 g-1(GZ8), respectively, and the (U-Th)/He ages of 438 Ma ± 3 Ma (2s) for GZ7 and 426 Ma ± 9 Ma (2s) for GZ8 are typical of unheated zircon from Sri Lanka. The mean U mass fractions are 680 µg g-1(GZ7) and 1305 µg g-1(GZ8). The two zircon samples are proposed as reference materials for SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry) U-Pb geochronology. In addition, GZ7 (Ti mass fractions 25.08 µg g-1 ± 0.18 µg g-1; 95% confidence uncertainty) may prove useful as reference material for Ti-in-zircon temperature estimates.

The Freetown Layered Complex (FLC) is a massive mafic layered intrusion cropping out along the coast of Sierra Leone. The present combined geochemical and geochronological (40Ar/39Ar on plagioclase: 201·7 ± 0·7 and 202·3 ± 2·3 Ma; U–Pb on baddeleyite: 198·794 ± 0·048/0·071/0·22 Ma) study of the complex flags it as a high-Ti occurrence of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Sr–Nd–Pb–Os isotope data indicate that the FLC is unique with respect to previously studied CAMP occurrences, constituting a new isotopic end-member for this large igneous province (LIP). Notably, the contribution of ancient source(s) is required to explain its low 206Pb/204Pb and high 207Pb/204Pb. Although the internal isotopic variability of the FLC can be explained by modest assimilation (<10%) of lower crustal (granulitic) material, represented by a xenolith found within the complex itself, an atypical mantle source is required to account for its unusual Pb isotopic composition. We also present the first Hf isotopic data measured to date for CAMP rocks, which, in the case of the FLC, show a restricted range in 176Hf/177Hf, overlapping the ocean island basalt and mid-ocean ridge basalt fields on the terrestrial array, and can further be used to characterize the FLC isotopic end-member. We propose that the FLC formed by mixing of a predominantly asthenospheric parental magma with small volumes (1–3%) of geochemically highly enriched lamproitic melts derived from the sub-continental lithospheric mantle in a geodynamic context in which a Proterozoic mobile belt (Rokelide) bordered an Archean craton (Man). Within the CAMP, similar isotopic compositions, in particular low 206Pb/204Pb and high 207Pb/204Pb, are found only in regions that were once contiguous with Sierra Leone. A comparable involvement of enriched components stored within the cratonic lithosphere may be envisaged for the high-Ti magmatism in the CAMP and two other LIPs of the South Atlantic realm, Karoo and Paraná–Etendeka.

Convergent continental margins are the primary host of both growth and loss of continental crust. Continental growth largely occurs via subduction-driven magmatism, whereas continental loss largely occurs via subduction erosion and sediment subduction. Because the latter typically involves partial recycling into magmas, both growth and loss of continental crust can be represented in the magmatic record. The degree of crustal recycling can be estimated from the initial Hf isotope signatures in both magmatic and detrital zircon grains. Recent insights into the geodynamic evolution of the Peruvian margin, in combination with a new dataset of Hf isotopic data on zircon from the Carboniferous to Early Cretaceous, enable us to (1) compare the geodynamic history of the southern Peruvian margin with its Hf isotopic evolution, and (2) quantify the crustal growth between 500 and 135 Ma. The data exhibit a correlation with trends in isotope composition v. time and reflect the dominantly extensional regime that prevailed from the onset of subduction from 530 Ma to c. 135 Ma. This study demonstrates that the Peruvian margin experienced continental growth with juvenile input to arc magmatism of 30–45% on average, and illustrates the use of U–Pb and Hf isotopes in zircon as a tool to trace episodes of crustal growth through time. Supplementary material: Hf istopic analyses on zircon (A1 and A2) and new U–Pb zircon ages (A3) are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18661.

The Karoo Large Igneous Province (K-LIP) is considered to have substantially influenced global warming, marine anoxia, and concomitant marine extinction in the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic). The sequence and duration of these events has been uncertain thus precluding direct comparison between sedimentary successions and the K-LIP. Two relatively narrow time intervals of the Early Toarcian, one approximately within the lower portion of the H. falciferum ammonite zone and the other near the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary (PL–TO-B), have received much attention because they are associated with carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) and marine extinctions. Potential causal mechanisms have been proposed, such as the release of massive amounts of carbon to the atmosphere via a catastrophic magmatic intrusive episode related to the K-LIP. Here we test the timing with four new high-precision (CA-ID-TIMS) U–Pb zircon ages from the Toarcian stage, collected from tephra interstratified with ammonite-bearing carbonates in southernmost Peru. We also present new U–Pb zircon and baddeleyite data from three sills and one rhyolite of the K-LIP in South Africa. Our new data permit a substantial reinterpretation of the Toarcian timescale: The Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary (PL–TO-B), a prominent global extinction level, must be older than 183.5 Ma on the basis of our oldest tephra. The H. falciferum CIE (equivalent to the so-called Toarcian oceanic anoxic event) is bracketed by two ash-fall bed dates between 183.22±0.26183.22±0.26 and 181.99±0.13 Ma181.99±0.13 Ma (all 2σ analytical and tracer errors); the CIE duration is estimated at approximately 300 ka on the basis of minimum error interpolation of ammonite zone boundaries. The base of the H. falciferum CIE appears to correlate in time with the onset K-LIP sill emplacement dated by the oldest sill at 183.014±0.072 Ma183.014±0.072 Ma. However, sill emplacement appears to have lasted for a minimum of 2 million years, at least until 181.31±0.1

The voluminous Kalkarindji flood basalts erupted in Australia during the Cambrian and covered >2 × 106 km2. New U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar age data from intrusive rocks and lava flows yielded statistically indistinguishable ages at ca. 511 Ma, suggesting a relatively brief emplacement for this province. A zircon age of 510.7 ± 0.6 Ma shows that this province is temporally indistinguishable at the few-hundred-thousand-year level from the Early–Middle Cambrian (Stage 4–5) boundary age of 510 ± 1 Ma, which marks the first severe extinction of the Phanerozoic and an extended marine anoxia period. Sulfur concentration measurements ranging from <50 to 1900 µg/g, and fractal analysis of extensive explosive volcanic breccias, suggest that blasts and phreatomagmatic explosions have contributed to injection of large amounts of sulfur into the stratosphere. In addition, magma intrusions in oil, gas, and sulfate deposits may have generated significant emission of CH4 and SO2 which, along with volcanic gases, would have combined to cause an oscillation of the climate and led to the Cambrian extinction.

Eocene gem zircons from Reddistone Creek, Glen Innes, Australia, have been assessed for isotopic and chemical homogeneity by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ID TIMS), Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and Wavelength Dispersive X-ray analysis (WDS). Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) SIMS data show that the U-Pb and Th-Pb isotope systems are homogeneous at the ion microprobe spot mass of a few ng for two zircons, AusZ2 and AusZ5, and that AusZ2 has good homogeneity in U, Th, and Th/U ratio. Twelve ID U-Pb TIMS analyses of separate 200–400 µm chips, measured in two different laboratories, show that AusZ2 has remarkable isotopic homogeneity at the sub-permil level, is concordant, and has a 206Pb-U238 age of 38.8963 ± 0.0044 Ma (2s; n = 12, MSWD = 1.01). A similar data set for AusZ5 shows that this gem has a similarly precise and reproducible 206Pb-238U age of 38.9022 ± 0.0035 Ma (2s; n = 12, MSWD = 2.4), but exhibits scatter in 207Pb-235U that is in excess of that expected based on the uncertainty of individual analyses (weighted mean 207Pb-235U date of 39.162 ± 0.054 Ma, 2s; n = 12, MSWD=10.0), with two concordant analyses and 10 slightly discordant analyses (0.7%). The slight discordance of AusZ5 may reflect an initial excess of 231Pa. The AusZ2 and AusZ5 ID TIMS data sets demonstrate the excellent reproducibility of measurements between labs using the EARTHTIME calibration spikes and solutions. LA-ICP-MS trace element data indicate that AusZ2 is also very homogeneous for the REE and other trace elements, whereas AusZ5 shows trace element heterogeneity. WDS analysis confirms the major element homogeneity of these zircons. Our data show that the AusZ2 zircon will be an excellent Reference Material (RM) for ID TIMS, SIMS, and LA-ICP-MS microanalysis of U-Pb isotopes and trace elements in Cainozoic zircons.