• journal_title：American Mineralogist
• Contributor：Romain Tartèse ; Mahesh Anand ; Thomas Delhaye
• Publisher：Mineralogical Society of America
• Date：2013-08-01
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.2138/am.2013.4467
• journal_abbrev：American Mineralogist
• issn：0003-004X
• volume：98
• issue：8-9
• firstpage：1477
• section：Articles

In this study, we carried out Pb/Pb dating of tranquillityite in high-Ti mare basalts 10044, 75055, and 74255, using a Cameca NanoSIMS 50 at a spatial resolution of ~3 μm. The analyses yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb dates of 3722 ± 11 Ma for sample 10044, 3772 ± 9 Ma for sample 75055, and 3739 ± 10 Ma for sample 74255, at 95% confidence level. These dates are consistent with previously determined crystallization and emplacement ages of these samples using different radiogenic systems. These high-precision ages allow refinement of the timing of some of the high-Ti basaltic volcanism on the Moon. Crystallization ages of three different high-Ti basalt units, integrating these new Pb/Pb ages with previous Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd age determinations, are consistent with previous estimates but associated with uncertainties 3 to 5 times lower. In addition, the data obtained in this study confirm that tranquillityite contains very low amounts of initial common Pb and has a high-Pb ionization efficiency, making it an excellent candidate for Pb/Pb dating by ion microprobe. The higher spatial resolution afforded by NanoSIMS 50 and the recent discovery of tranquillityite in several terrestrial mafic rocks opens up a new area of research allowing an independent and rapid age dating of basaltic rocks in polished sections.