Journal article
Production of 21Ne in depth-profiled olivine from a 54 Ma basalt sequence, Eastern Highlands (37° S), Australia
EL Matchan, M Honda, TT Barrows, D Phillips, AR Chivas, LK Fifield, D Fabel
Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2018
Abstract
In this study we investigate the cosmogenic neon component in olivine samples from a vertical profile in order to quantify muogenic 21Ne production in this mineral. Samples were collected from an 11 m thick Eocene basalt profile in the Eastern Highlands of southeastern Australia. An eruption age of 54.15 ± 0.36 Ma (2σ) was determined from 40Ar/39Ar step-heating experiments (n = 6) on three whole-rock samples. A 36Cl profile on the section indicated an apparent steady state erosion rate of 4.7 ± 0.5 m Ma−1. The eruption age was used to calculate in situ produced radiogenic 4He and nucleogenic 3He and 21Ne concentrations in olivine. Olivine mineral separates (n = 4), extracted from the upper t..
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Grants
Awarded by Natural Environment Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors thank: J. Chappell for initial advice on the field site and assistance in the field; I. McDougall for providing petrographic descriptions; P. Carr for XRF analysis (University of Wollongong); J. Hughes and T. Fujioka for assistance with mineral separation of olivine at the Australian National University; K. Leslie and S. Turner for assistance preparing samples in the Exeter Cosmogenic Nuclide Laboratory; A. Greig for undertaking trace element ICPMS analyses (University of Melbourne) and J. Hergt for discussions regarding these data. This work was supported by ARC Discovery grants DP0773815, DP0986235 and DP130100517. Constructive comments made by three anonymous reviewers were helpful in improving the quality of the manuscript.