Technical note: LA--ICP-MS U--Pb dating of unetched and etched apatites.

The same unetched and chemically etched apatite crystals from five rock samples were dated by the U--Pb method via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA--ICP-MS). The objective of this study is to test whether chemical etching required for apatite fission track analysis impacts the precision and accuracy of apatite U--Pb geochronology. The results of this experiment suggest that etching has insignificant effects on the accuracy of apatite U--Pb ages obtained by LA--ICP-MS. Therefore, LA--ICP-MS is reliable for U--Pb analysis as part of apatite fission track and U--Pb double dating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]