Significant Ages—An Introduction to Petrochronology

1区 地球科学 Q1 Earth and Planetary Sciences
M. Engi, P. Lanari, M. Kohn
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引用次数: 93

Abstract

Question : Why “Petrochronology”? Why add another term to an already cluttered scientific lexicon? Answer : Because petrologists and geochronologists need a term that describes the unique, distinctive way in which they apply geochronology to the study of igneous and metamorphic processes. Other terms just won’t do. Such evolution of language is natural and well-established. For instance, “Geochronology” was originally coined during the waning stages of the great Age-of-the-Earth debate as a means of distinguishing timescales relevant to Earth processes from timescales relevant to humans (Williams 1893). Eighty-eight years later, Berger and York (1981) coined the term “Thermochronology,” which has evolved as a branch of geochronology aimed at constraining thermal histories of rocks, where (typically) the thermally activated diffusive loss of a radiogenic daughter governs the ages we measure. Thermochronology may now be distinguished from “plain vanilla” geochronology, whose limited purpose, in the words of Reiners et al. (2005), is “…exclusively to determine a singular absolute stratigraphic or magmatic [or metamorphic] formation age, with little concern for durations or rates of processes” that give rise to these rocks. Neither of these terms describes what petrologists do with chronologic data. A single date is virtually useless in understanding the protracted history of magma crystallization or metamorphic pressure–temperature evolution. And we are not simply interested in thermal histories, but in chemical and baric evolution as well. Rather, we petrologists and geochronologists strive to understand rock-forming processes, and the rates at which they occur, by integrating numerous ages into the petrologic evolution of a rock. It is within this context that a new discipline, termed “Petrochronology”, has emerged1. In some sense petrochronology may be considered the sister of thermochronology: petrochronology typically focuses on the processes leading up to the formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks—the minerals and textures we observe …
重要的年代——岩石年代学导论
问题:为什么是“岩石年代学”?为什么要在已经混乱的科学词典中再增加一个术语呢?答:因为岩石学家和地质年代学家需要一个术语来描述他们将地质年代学应用于火成岩和变质作用研究的独特方式。其他术语都不行。语言的这种进化是自然的,也是公认的。例如,“地球年代学”一词最初是在关于地球年龄的大争论的最后阶段创造出来的,作为区分与地球过程相关的时间尺度与与人类相关的时间尺度的一种手段(Williams 1893)。88年后,Berger和York(1981)创造了“热年代学”一词,它已发展成为地质年代学的一个分支,旨在限制岩石的热历史,其中(通常)热激活的放射性子子的扩散损失支配着我们测量的年龄。热年代学现在可以与“普通的”地质年代学区分开来,后者的有限目的,用Reiners等人(2005)的话来说,是“…专门确定一个单一的绝对地层或岩浆[或变质]形成时代,很少关注形成这些岩石的过程的持续时间或速率”。这两个术语都不能描述岩石学家如何处理年代学资料。单一的日期对于理解岩浆结晶或变质压力-温度演化的漫长历史实际上是无用的。我们不仅对热历史感兴趣,而且对化学和气压演化也感兴趣。相反,我们岩石学家和地质年代学家努力通过将许多年代整合到岩石的岩石学演化中来理解岩石的形成过程及其发生的速度。在这种背景下,一门被称为“岩石年代学”的新学科应运而生。在某种意义上,岩石年代学可以被认为是热年代学的姊妹:岩石年代学通常关注导致火成岩和变质岩形成的过程——我们观察到的矿物和结构……
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来源期刊
Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry
Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry 地学-地球化学与地球物理
CiteScore
8.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
39
期刊介绍: RiMG is a series of multi-authored, soft-bound volumes containing concise reviews of the literature and advances in theoretical and/or applied mineralogy, crystallography, petrology, and geochemistry. The content of each volume consists of fully developed text which can be used for self-study, research, or as a text-book for graduate-level courses. RiMG volumes are typically produced in conjunction with a short course but can also be published without a short course. The series is jointly published by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) and the Geochemical Society.
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