Abstract
The present study reviews radiometric and thermobarometric techniques used to construct cooling curves or paths to characterize intrusive bodies and to calculate cooling and exhumation rates. To construct these curves or paths, the temperature, time and depth variables must be estimated in intrusive bodies by applying various analytical techniques, including thermobarometry and U-Pb zircon, Ar-Ar hornblende and muscovite, fission track and (U-Th)/He zircon and apatite dating, in combination with a geological framework of reference for each intrusive body. The authors recommend to determine the crystallization age by zircon U-Pb dating, to quantify the emplacement depth using thermobarometry methods according to the composition of the intrusive body, to calculate the initial cooling ages with hornblende and muscovite Ar-Ar methods, as well as to calculate the cooling/exhumation ages in the upper crust using low-temperature thermochronology methods. These cooling curves or paths in intrusive bodies are highly relevant when studying compressive or extensional areas because they partly represent the thermal history of the era, thereby providing data on the magmatic and tectonic evolution of the region. Thus, these studies are highly important for designing geodynamic models and for their possible application in developing the tectonic model of the country.
Highlights
Cooling processes inside the earth’s crust result from geological events, and their characterization makes it possible to learn the thermal history of a region and to obtain information about their magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic evolution
The present study reviews radiometric and thermobarometric techniques used to construct cooling curves or paths to characterize intrusive bodies and to calculate cooling and exhumation rates. To construct these curves or paths, the temperature, time and depth variables must be estimated in intrusive bodies by applying various analytical techniques, including thermobarometry and U-Pb zircon, Ar-Ar hornblende and muscovite, fission track and (U-Th)/He zircon and apatite dating, in combination with a geological framework of reference for each intrusive body
The authors recommend to determine the crystallization age by zircon U-Pb dating, to quantify the emplacement depth using thermobarometry methods according to the composition of the intrusive body, to calculate the initial cooling ages with hornblende and muscovite Ar-Ar methods, as well as to calculate the cooling/exhumation ages in the upper crust using low-temperature thermochronology methods
Summary
Cooling processes inside the earth’s crust result from geological events, and their characterization makes it possible to learn the thermal history of a region and to obtain information about their magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic evolution (cf. Dodson, 1979; Harrison et al, 1979; Zeitler, 1985; Green, Duddy, Laslett et al, 1989, Corrigan, 1991; Gallagher et al, 1998, Reiners and Brandon, 2006). Despite the large volume of geothermochronological data on intrusive units published in the literature, few studies have focused on constructing the cooling and exhumation curves or paths of these units for understanding the evolution of areas with magmatic belts. For this purpose, the authors of this review suggest to consider that: a) reported radiometric data should be statistically validated to increase the reliability of crystallization and cooling ages of intrusive units, b) thermobarometry studies should be performed in intrusive rocks to quantify the emplacement levels of these bodies and c) carrying out systematic studies that combine the different techniques used to the construction of cooling curves or paths in intrusive rocks
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