An improved U–Pb age dating method for zircon and monazite using 200/266 nm femtosecond laser ablation and enhanced sensitivity multiple-Faraday collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Abstract

We present an improved U–Pb age dating method for zircon and monazite crystals using 193 nm excimer laser ablation and 200/266 nm femtosecond laser ablation (200/266FsLA) multiple-Faraday collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MFC-ICP-MS). Optimization of a 266 fs laser beam enabled an analysis of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ratios with an in-run precision of 1–2% from a crater of dimensions 50 μm × 10 μm (diameter × depth) at a repetition rate of 2 Hz for 30 s. The same in-run precision was obtained from a 30 μm × 20 μm crater using a 200 fs laser beam of 20 μm in diameter rastered along the circumference of a circle with a 7 μm radius at 25 Hz for 15 s. With an enhanced sensitivity ion interface, the sensitivity for the total amount of Pb was ∼2 mV ppm⁻¹ or ∼125 000 cps ppm⁻¹ using the above crater setup. The use of high gain amplifiers equipped with a 10¹² Ω register enabled the determination of the U–Pb age of zircon and monazite crystals with an internal and intermediate precision comparable to that obtained from sensitive high resolution ion microprobe (SHRMP) techniques. We analysed standard zircon crystals using a 91500 zircon crystal (1065.4 ± 0.6 Ma determined by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS)) as a bracketing standard. Ages determined from TEMORA2, Prešovice, and OD-3 zircons compared very well with their reference ages determined by ID-TIMS and/or SHRIMP. Thompson Mine and Monangotory standard monazites, dated using a 44069 monazite crystal (424.9 ± 0.4 by ID-TIMS) as a standard, also reproduced the U–Pb ages determined by ID-TIMS/LA-MFC-ICP-MS, but at a sample volume four times smaller than that required for zircons. Zircon and monazite ages are accurate given the small offsets from ID-TIMS ages, 0.15–0.7% for zircons and 0.2–0.7% for monazite well within internal precision from the primary standard in the analytical session and competitive with an internal precision of 0.43–0.6% for zircon and 0.2–0.8% for monazite. More easily obtaining high resolution age data is useful for the precise determination of the U–Pb age.