High-precision geochronology
Geochronology is an essential tool of multiple Earth Science disciplines. Determining the age of rocks and minerals allows uncovering the timing and duration of events in the geological past and the rates of related processes. Uranium-lead geochronology by isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) is often referred to as the gold standard of geochronology. This technique is mostly applied to accessory minerals, primarily zircon, and allows determining the crystallisation ages of these minerals with sub-permil precision and accuracy. This allows quantifying the timescales of a variety of geological processes at unprecedented temporal resolution.
As part of the Mineral Resource Systems group the ETH ID-TIMS U-Pb geochronology lab currently focusses on understanding the timescales and rates of key processes involved in the formation of magmatic-hydrothermal mineral deposits.
The lab is also actively involved in a variety of projects with other research groups, including early solar system evolution, understanding continental magmatism from the Archean to present and calibrating sedimentary archives of Earth history.
The high-precision U-Pb geochronology laboratory comprises ultra-low blank clean room facilities and a thermal ionisation mass spectrometry lab housing a Thermo TRITON Plus instrument upgraded with 1013 ohm feedback resistors. The lab is part of the newly established ETH Geochronology Cluster that also hosts laser ablation ICP-MS facilities for U-Pb and U-Th dating of a variety of minerals and fully equipped U-Th/He facilities.
We regularly participate in activities (meetings, interlaboratory experiments, etc.) of the EARTHTIME initiative.
Contact
Inst. für Geochemie und Petrologie
Clausiusstrasse 25
8092
Zürich
Switzerland
