Mica Rb-Sr dating by laser ablation ICP-MS/MS using an isochronous calibration material and application to West African kimberlites

Abstract

In-situ Rb-Sr dating of mica by laser ablation ICP-MS/MS has recently emerged as a new tool to date a range of geological processes including magmatic, metamorphic and hydrothermal events. The majority of age results presented to date are based on Rb/Sr calibration using the MicaMG pressed nano-powder pellet. However, some studies have reported low accuracy associated with mica Rb-Sr ages using this method, which are attributed to the different ablation properties of MicaMG and natural mica. In this work, we document the results of a systematic comparison between isotope-dilution and laser-ablation Rb/Sr ages of micas in Cretaceous diamondiferous kimberlites from Bultfontein (South Africa), Koidu and Tonguma (Sierra Leone), with additional in-situ data for the Mt. Dromedary mica (Australia). We adopt two different analytical strategies. While NIST610 SRM is employed to calibrate 87Sr/86Sr in both cases, the first approach follows the convention to utilise MicaMG as calibration material for Rb/Sr. In the second approach, Rb/Sr quantification is initially undertaken with NIST610, with a subsequent correction for Rb/Sr offset based on the age of isochronous micas (WBLK) from the Cretaceous Wimbledon lamproite (South Africa). We show that, using our instrumental set-up, employment of MicaMG as Rb/Sr calibration material commonly provides inaccurate results (generally 5–10% older than the solution-based ages). Conversely, our new approach returns accurate ages (within 3%) and represents a promising avenue to improve the accuracy of mica Rb-Sr age by laser ablation ICP-MS/MS especially once isochronous mica reference materials will be developed. Application of this methodology to multiple samples from Koidu and Tonguma shows that, contrarily to previous inferences based on age-dating of fewer samples, magmatism occurred at both localities in the 145–151 Ma interval. After a temporal hiatus, magmatism restarted exclusively in the Tonguma cluster between 135 and 139 Ma. The relative volumetric importance of these two magmatic stages in the Tonguma diamond mine awaits further evaluation.