Geochronology

• Project background
• More information
• Data and publications
• Related links

Project background

The Geoscience Australia Geochronology Laboratory provides high quality age information to support research objectives in both internal and collaborative regional and specific interest projects. Collaborative projects operate with State and Territory Geological Surveys, universities and the CSIRO.

Geoscience Australia installed a new Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP) in late 2007 with commissioning and testing through the first quarter of 2008. This new facility will provide in-house analysis of mineral phases such as zircon and monazite and will enable the group to have detailed management of the 'outcrop-to-publication' analytical cycle which will ensure that the highest quality data are provided to research projects. The in-house facility also will aid the development of new analytical methods, expanding Geoscience Australia's capability to address increasingly complex geoscience issues.

The Geoscience Australia Geochronology Laboratory also has a strong network of relationships with geochronology laboratories around the world which enables additional access to a range of analytical methods such as Ar-Ar, TIMS U-Pb, etc.

Many of Australia's world class mineral deposits formed between 2700 to 2500 million years ago (Archaean age) and 1700 to 1500 million years ago (Palaeoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic age). These include the Archaean gold deposits near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, and the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic Zn-Pb-Ag, Cu and Cu-Au deposits in the Mount Isa-Cloncurry region, and at Broken Hill and Olympic Dam. Because shelly fossils are absent in rocks older than approximately 500 million years, it is not possible to use palaeontology to determine the ages of rocks which host most of Australia's mineral wealth.

Datasets collected in the Geoscience Australia Geochronology Laboratory are used to constrain:

• the depositional ages of the sedimentary rocks which host Australia's mineral deposits;
• the intrusion or extrusion ages of igneous rocks found in these areas;
• the timing of metamorphic events which alter these rocks; and
• the timing of fluid migration events which led to the formation of economic deposits.

The geochronology group aims to provide improved efficiencies in mineral exploration through a better understanding of the ages of the rocks which host Australia's mineral wealth and the fluid flow events which led to their formation.

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More information

• Geochronology facilities, including mineral separation laboratories and procedures, and the mass spectrometer facilities.
• Current projects in geochronology, including national and regional Onshore Energy Security Program projects and collaborative projects with State and Territory Surveys.
• Geochronological research and development

Data and publications

• Download datasets from the Geoscience Australia OZCHRON
• New OZCHRON data reports
• Geochronology journal, abstract, and report publications

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Related links

• Geochronology home page
• Geochronology regional projects
• Geochronology facilities
• Research and development