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Uranium-series Dating of Marine and Lacustrine Carbonates

¹ Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455, U.S.A.
² Department of Geological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Duluth Duluth, Minnesota, 55812, U.S.A.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

	1. HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS

 
Of the possible uranium-series dating schemes, the most important and most widely applied to marine carbonates is ^230Th dating, with ²³¹Pa dating playing an increasingly important role. For this reason, this review will focus on these two methods. ^230Th dating, also referred to as U/Th dating or ²³⁸U-²³⁴U-²³⁰Th dating, involves calculating ages from radioactive decay and ingrowth relationships among ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U, and ²³⁰Th. ²³²Th is also typically measured as a long-lived, essentially stable index isotope (over the time scales relevant to ²³⁰Th dating). At present ²³⁰Th dating can, in principle, be used to date materials as young as 3 years and in excess of 600,000 years (Edwards et al. 1987a, 1993; Edwards 1988; see Stirling et al. 2001 for an example of dating corals in excess of 600,000 years old). ²³¹Pa dating, also referred to as U/Pa dating, involves calculating ages from the ingrowth of ²³¹Pa from its grandparent ²³⁵U. At present ²³¹Pa dating can be used to date materials as young as 10 years and as old 250,000 years (Edwards et al. 1997). ²³⁰Th dating covers all of the ²³¹Pa time range and more, with somewhat higher precision, and is therefore the method of choice if a single method is applied. However, the combination of ²³¹Pa and ²³⁰Th dating is of great importance in assessing possible diagenetic mobilization of the pertinent nuclides, and thereby, the accuracy of the ages (Allegre 1964; Ku 1968). Even if the primary age exceeds the 250,000 year limit of ²³¹Pa dating, the combined methods can be used to assess the degree to which the samples have remained closed over the past 250,000 years (e.g., Edwards et al. 1997). Thus ²³¹Pa analysis can play an important role in assessing age accuracy. Taken together, ²³⁰Th and ²³¹. . . [Full Text of this Article]

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