U-Pb Geochronology: Taking or Creating the Pulse of Magmatic Systems?

Abstract:

A combination of field, laboratory, and theoretical investigations has led to models for constructing upper crustal batholiths through pulsed emplacement of smaller magma batches. Whether melt accumulates or freezes at the emplacement level depends in part on the magma flux and the size of individual injections. Calibrating these variables in real systems has benefited greatly from the application of U-Pb zircon geochronology; however, as sampling density and number of analyses increases, it is commonly observed that zircon dates are continuous, not pulsed, on the pluton scale. Accurately interpreting such datasets to calibrate magmatic tempos thus requires an improved set of tools that link zircon crystallization histories to magmatic processes in dynamic systems. This contribution evaluates recent progress and challenges in using U-Pb geochronology to building models for magma transport and residence, as driven by the following questions: What are the timescales and sites of magmatic differentiation? What are the supersolidus temperature-time paths of magmas? What controls magma accumulation and eruptibility? Do zircon or other accessory minerals actually record these processes uniquely? To answer these questions, our recent work has emphasized integrating zircon geochronology and geochemistry with petrologic techniques, numerical modeling, and field mapping. Using this approach on arc systems from the pluton to batholith scale, we can now better characterize the pulsed nature of upper crustal magmatism and track the presence and crystallization history of melts. However, uncertainties persist in regard to our understanding of, e.g., zircon trace element partition coefficients, controls on magma zircon saturation, and how sampling bias at the handsample and regional scales affects our models of crustal magmatism. Addressing these unknowns will only further augment geochronology’s role in reconstructing the formation, evolution and emplacement of magmas.