Determination of U-Pb ages of zircons by direct measurement of the 210Pb/206Pb ratio

1993

Abstract Precise measurements of the 210Pb/206Pb ratio in zircons permits, for the first time, the determination of complete U-Pb ages by measurement of Pb isotopes only, without determination of the U-Pb ratio by isotope dilution. The 238U daughter isotope 210Pb is generally in radioactive equilibrium with 238U; however, the very short half-life of 210Pb (22.3a) results in extremely low 210Pb/206Pb ratios of ∼ 10−8, especially for Archaean zircons. These ratios have been determined using a Finnigan MAT 262® mass spectrometer equipped with a high abundance sensitivity lens system (RPQ). The accuracy of the 210Pb method has been tested on nine different zircon samples with 207Pb/206Pb ages f…