Technical note: LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of unetched and etched apatites

Abstract

The same unetched and chemically etched apatite crystals from five rock samples were dated by the U-Pb method via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The objective of this study is to test whether chemical etching required for apatite fission track analysis impacts the precision and accuracy of apatite U-Pb geochronology. The results of this experiment suggest that etching has insignificant effects on the accuracy of apatite U-Pb ages obtained by LA-ICP-MS. Therefore, LA-ICP-MS is reliable for U-Pb analysis as part of apatite fission track and U-Pb double dating. Copyright: