Enhanced diffusion of Uranium and Thorium linked to crystal plasticity in zircon.docVIP

Geochemical Transactions BioMedCentral Research article Open Access Enhanced diffusion of Uranium and Thorium linked to crystal plasticity in zircon Nicholas E Timms*, Peter D Kinny and Steven M Reddy Address: Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, Australia Email: Nicholas E Timms* - n.timms@.au; Peter D Kinny - p.kinny@.au; Steven M Reddy - s.reddy@.au * Corresponding author Published: 20 December 2006 Received: 06 September 2006 Accepted: 20 December 2006 Geochemical Transactions 2006, 7:10 doi:10.1186/1467-4866-7-10 This article is available from: /content/7/1/10 ? 2006 Timms et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The effects of crystal-plasticity on the U-Th-Pb system in zircon is studied by quantitative microstructural and microchemical analysis of a large zircon grain collected from pyroxenite of the Lewisian Complex, Scotland. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mapping reveals a c.18° variation in crystallographic orientation that comprises both a gradual change in orientation and a series of discrete low-angle (4°) boundaries. These microstructural data are consistent with crystal-plastic deformation of zircon associated with the formation and migration of dislocations. A heterogeneous pattern of dark cathodoluminescence, with the darkest domains coinciding with low-angle boundaries, mimics the deformation microstructure identified by EBSD. Geochemical data collected using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP) shows a positive correlation between concentrations of the elements U, Th and Pb (ranging from 20–60 ppm, 30– 110 ppm, and 14–36 ppm, respective