Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods pp 1–7Cite as

Thermochronology, Detrital Zircon

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 247 Accesses

Definition

Detrital zircon thermochronology is the study of thermal histories of rocks revealed through cooling ages obtained from detrital zircon. Most studies focus on fission-track or helium dating of suites of single grains to reveal the thermal evolution of a source region.

Introduction

Detrital zircon thermochronology is focused on the evaluation of ages of detrital zircon grains to reconstruct the thermal evolution of source rocks that supplied sediment to a basin. Zircon (ZrSiO4) is an accessory mineral that crystallizes primarily in silica-rich igneous rocks, but after erosion and deposition it occurs widely in sedimentary rocks and their metamorphic equivalents (Bernet and Garver 2005). Because zircon is very durable in typical sedimentary environments on Earth, it typically survives sedimentary transport and in fact can be concentrated in heavy mineral assemblages where mineralogical fractionation occurs naturally by sedimentary processes. Zircon is also resistant to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Bibliography

  • Bernet, M., 2009. A field-based estimate of the zircon fission-track closure temperature. Chemical Geology, 259, 181–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernet, M., and Garver, J. I., 2005. Fission-track analysis of detrital zircon. In Reiners, P., and Ehlers, T. (eds.), Low-temperature Thermochronology. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry Series, Vol. 58. Mineralogical Society of America, Chantilly, VA (USA), pp. 205–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernet, M., Zattin, M., Garver, J. I., Brandon, M. T., and Vance, J. A., 2001. Steady-state exhumation of the European Alps. Geology, 29, 35–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernet, M., Brandon, M. T., Garver, J. I., and Molitor, B., 2004. Fundamentals of detrital zircon fission-track analysis for provenance and exhumation studies. In Bernet, M., and Spiegel, C., (eds.), Detrital Thermochronology – Provenance Analysis, Exhumation and Landscape Evolution of Mountain Belts. Geological Society of America Special Publication, Boulder Colorado (USA), 378, pp. 25–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandon, M. T., and Vance, J. A., 1992. Tectonic evolution of the Cenozoic Olympic subduction complex, Washington State, as deduced from fission track ages for detrital zircons. American Journal of Science, 292, 565–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, B. M., 2012. Cooling and provenance revealed through detrital zircon fission track dating of the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group and Paleogene Orca Group in Western Prince William Sound, Alaska. In Proceedings from the Twenty-Fifth Annual Keck Research Symposium in Geology, April 5–8, 2012, Amherst MA, pp. 8–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, A., and Bristow, C. S., 2000. Detrital zircon geochronology: enhancing the quality of sedimentary source information through improved methodology and combined U-Pb and fission-track techniques. Basin Research, 12, 47–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enkelmann, E., Zeitler, P. K., Pavlis, T. L., Garver, J. I., and Ridgway, K. D., 2009. Intense localized rock uplift and erosion in the St. Elias Orogen of Alaska. Nature Geoscience, 2(5), 360–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garver, J. I., and Brandon, M. T., 1994. Erosional denudation of the British Columbia Coast Ranges as determined from fission-track ages of detrital zircon from the Tofino Basin, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106(11), 1398–1412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garver, J. I., and Kamp, P. J. J., 2002. Integration of zircon color and zircon fission track zonation patterns in Orogenic belts: application of the Southern Alps, New Zealand. Tectonophysics, 349(1–4), 203–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garver, J. I., Brandon, M. T., Roden-Tice, M., and Kamp, P. J. J., 1999. Erosional denudation determined by fission-track ages of detrital apatite and zircon. In Ring, U., Brandon, M. T., Willett, S., and Lister, G. (eds.), Exhumation Processes: Normal Faulting, Ductile Flow, and Erosion. Geological Society of London Special Publication, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London (UK), 154. pp. 283–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garver, J. I., Soloviev, A. V., Bullen, M. E., and Brandon, M. T., 2000. Towards a more complete record of magmatism and exhumation in continental arcs using detrital fission track thermochronometry. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Part A, 25, 565–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garver, J. I., Reiners, P. R., Walker, L. J., Ramage, J. M., and Perry, S. E., 2005. Implications for timing of Andean uplift based on thermal resetting of radiation-damaged zircon in the Cordillera Huayhuash, northern Perú. Journal of Geology, 113, 117–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hancher, J. M., and Hoskin, P. W. O., 2003. Zircon. Mineralogical Society of America. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 53, 500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montario, M. J., and Garver, J. I., 2009. The thermal evolution of the Grenville Terrane revealed through U-Pb and Fission-Track analysis of detrital Zircon from Cambro-Ordovician quartz arenites of the Potsdam and Galway Formations. Journal of Geology, 117, 595–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poldervaart, A., 1955. Zircons in rocks, 1. Sedimentary rocks. American Journal of Science, 253, 433–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahl, J. M., Reiners, P. W., Campbell, I. H., Nicolescu, S., and Allen, C. M., 2003. Combined single-grain (U-Th)/He and U/Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Navajo Sandstone, Utah. Geology, 31, 761–764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reiners, P. W., 2005. Zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry. In Reiners, P. W., and Ehlers, T. A. (eds.), Thermochronology. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Vol. 58, Mineralogical Society of America, Chantilly, VA (USA), pp. 151–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiners, P. W., and Brandon, M. T., 2006. Using thermochronology to understand orogenic erosion. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, 34, 419–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reiners, P. W., Campbell, I. S., Nicolescu, S., Allen, C. A., Hourigan, J. K., Garver, J. I., Mattinson, J. M., and Cowan, D. S., 2005. (U-Th)/(He-Pb) “Double-dating” of detrital zircons. American Journal of Science, 305, 259–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubatto, D., 2002. Zircon trace element geochemistry: partitioning with garnet and the link between U-Pb ages and metamorphism. Chemical Geology, 184, 123–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, G. M. H., Seward, D., and Winkler, W., 2004. Detrital thermochronology – a new perspective on hinterland tectonics, an example from the Andean Amazon Basin, Ecuador. Basin Research, 16, 413–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spiegel, C., Siebel, W., Kuhlemann, J., and Frisch, W., 2004. Towards a comprehensive provenance analysis: a multi-method approach and its implications for the evolution of the Central Alps. In Bernet, M., and Spiegel, C. (eds.), Detrital Thermochronology – Provenance Analysis, Exhumation, and Landscape Evolution of Mountain Belts. Geological Society of America Special Publication, Boulder Colorado (USA), 378, pp. 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tagami, T., 2005. Zircon fission-track dating. In Reiners, P. W., and Ehlers, T. (eds.), Low-Temperature Thermochronometry. Reviews of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Vol. 58, Mineralogical Society of America, Chantilly, VA (USA), pp. 95–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, G., and Van den Haute, P., 1992. Fission track dating. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whitchurch, A. L., Carter, A., Sinclair, H. D., Duller, R. A., Whittaker, A. C., and Allen, P. A., 2011. Sediment routing system evolution within a diachronously uplifting orogen: insights from detrital zircon thermochronological analyses from the South-Central Pyrenees. American Journal of Science, 311(5), 442–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Union College, 807 Union St., Olin Building, Schenectady, NY, USA

    J. I. Garver

Authors
  1. J. I. Garver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. I. Garver .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    W. Jack Rink

  2. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Jeroen Thompson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Garver, J.I. (2014). Thermochronology, Detrital Zircon. In: Rink, W., Thompson, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_224-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_224-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6326-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation