Li diffusion and substitution in chemically diverse synthetic zircon

Abstract:

Li concentrations and 7Li/6Li ratios in zircon may potentially trace crustal recycling because continental and mantle-derived zircons yield distinct values (Ushikubo et al. 2008; Bouvier et al. 2012). To some extent, the usefulness of these differences may depend upon the retentively of Li in zircon. Cherniak and Watson (2010) measured relatively high diffusivities for Li; here we sought to discover the scenarios under which Li mobility might be inhibited by charge compensating cations. We conducted "in" diffusion experiments in synthetic Lu-doped (~5000 ppm), P-doped (~250 ppm), and nearly pure zircon following the procedure in Cherniak and Watson (2010). In separate experiments, Li was ion implanted at depth within polished Mud Tank zircon slabs to form a Gaussian Li concentration profile; the relaxed concentration profile was measured after heating the zircon slabs. In all experiments, which ranged from 920 to 650 oC, calculated diffusivities were in agreement with a previously established Arrhenius relationship calibrated on trace element poor Mud Tank zircon (Cherniak and Watson, 2010). We also conducted complementary LA-ICP-MS mapping on the surfaces of P- and Lu-doped synthetic zircon crystals after the Li diffusion results were obtained. This revealed heterogeneous though patterned correlation between Li+Lu in the near surface of the crystal (no strong patterns emerged for P+Li). And finally, we observed that synthetic sector-zoned zircon exhibits near step function Li concentration profiles - correlating with changes in the rare earth element concentrations across these sectors - which allowed us to examine Li diffusion in yet another manner. Re-heating these grains followed by LA-ICP-MS analysis revealed significant Li migration, with no detectable migration of the rare earth elements. While our experiments cannot be considered exhaustive, we have yet to find a scenario where Li mobility in synthetic zircon depends on charge compensating cations.