Evaluation of the 87Rb decay constant by age comparison against the U–Pb system

The Rb–Sr decay system is one of the most widely used geochronometers for obtaining ages and cooling rates of terrestrial magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal events. It has also been extensively applied to date extraterrestrial, early solar system events. The accuracy of Rb–Sr ages, however, strongly depends on the accuracy of the 87 Rb decay constant (λ 87 Rb). We determined λ 87 Rb relative to the decay constants of 235 U and 238 U by comparing Rb–Sr ages of minerals with U–Pb ages obtained from the same intrusion. Comparison of U–Pb emplacement ages with high-precision Rb–Sr mineral ages from three rapidly cooled igneous rocks covering an age range of ca. 2.5 Ga yields an unweighted mean λ 87 Rb of 1.393 ± 0.004 × 10 −11 yr −1 (i.e., ± 0.3%), corresponding to a half-life of 49.76 × 10 9 years. Because this decay constant is 2% lower than the presently recommended one, many previously published ages are 2% too young and the resulting geologic interpretations may need revision.