Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of the Geological Society

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McLaren, S. Articles by Powell, R. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Understanding K-feldspar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data: reconciling models, methods and microtextures

^{1 1}Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, ACT 0200, Australia
^{2 2}School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia (e-mail: mclarens{at}unimelb.edu.au)

Several descriptions of argon diffusion in K-feldspar have been developed, including the quantitative multiple-diffusion-domain (MDD) and multipath models and the qualitative ‘recrystallization’ model. These models remain contentious and the natural range in behaviour remains poorly understood. Feldspars from the Klokken syenite intrusion show a systematic relationship between ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age and microtexture suggesting that the loss of argon from different feldspars operates via different mechanisms such that the existing models represent only end-member scenarios. The MDD model can yield reliable thermal history information only for feldspars with pristine microtexture, with this model best viewed as a cipher for the real (but unknown) domain structure in such samples.