Assessing the reproducibility of (U-Th)/He geochronology of xenolithic zircon: Insights from the Quaternary Eifel intraplate volcanic field, Germany

Geochronological methods play a pivotal role in unraveling the evolution of volcanic fields, providing insights into eruption timescales and recurrence. In the Quaternary Eifel volcanic field, with >300 maars and scoria cones, dating volcanic events remains challenging due to the scarcity of suitable materials for conventional dating methods. A promising approach to determine accurate eruption ages is to apply (U-Th)/He geochronology to zircon extracted from partially re-melted crustal xenoliths^1,2, which in case of Eifel maars are co-deposited with country-rock derived lithics and juvenile lapilli. However, the reproducibility of the method, if applied to xenoliths of different origin, age, composition, and texture, has not been studied for a single explosive eruption.

We collected >250 crustal xenoliths from >35 centers of the East and West Eifel volcanic fields. Coupled petrological investigation and zircon geochronology (U-Pb and U-Th) of a subset of these xenoliths reveal their diversity regarding protolith types (plutonic vs. low- to high-grade metamorphic), zircon crystallization ages (200 ka to 3 Ga) and degree of pyrometamorphic overprint (variable abundances of glass and vesicles, and crystal breakdown reaction textures). (U-Th)/He dating of the previously U-Th-Pb dated crystals (zircon-double-dating, ZDD) was performed to determine eruption ages for these centers.

Here, we focus on a xenolith suite (n = 8) from the Gemündener Maar and E-Schalkenmehrener Maar, two vents within a maar cluster known as Dauner Maar group. Tentative eruption ages of 20 to 30 ka were estimated from considerations on paleoclimate and crater morphology^3,4, and ESR xenolithic quartz dates of 30 ± 4 ka⁵. The pyroclastic deposits are rich in diverse zircon-bearing crustal xenoliths and thus, offer an ideal testbed to investigate how critical parameters such as xenolith rock type, zircon crystallization age, grain morphology, structure and chemical composition determined by Raman analysis and cathodoluminescence imaging, among others, could influence the measured (U-Th)/He ages. The investigated xenoliths comprise both magmatic and metamorphic protoliths with varying degree of pyrometamorphic overprint. Zircon U-Pb ages range from 115 ± 4 Ma to 2731 ± 66 Ma. Preliminary (U-Th)/He dates of individual xenoliths agree with the expected eruption age range, underscoring the feasibility of the method. A detailed analysis of parameters potentially affecting (U-Th)/He systematics in zircon ages is ongoing.

 

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