Simultaneous in-situ determination of U-Pb age and trace elements in zircon by LA-ICP-MS in 20 μm spot size

Simultaneous in-situ determination of U-Pb ages and 20 trace elements of three international zircon standards (91500, GJ1 and TEMORA 1) and one laboratory zircon standard (SK10-2) separated from Cenozoic fine-grained gabbro was carried out on quadrupole ICP-MS equipped with 193 nm excimer laser in 20 μm spot size. The weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of 91500, GJ1 and TEMORA 1 are 1064.4±4.8 Ma (2σ), 603.2±2.4 Ma (2σ) and 418.2±2.4 Ma (2σ), respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 206Pb/238U ages (2σ) are less than 2.2% for single measurements and 0.6% for weighted means. The obtained weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of three standard zircons agree with the recommended values within 2σ error. The weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of SK10-2 is 31.42±0.25 Ma (2σ) and the RSDs of 206Pb/238U ages (2σ) are between 2.4% and 5.7% for single measurements and less than 0.8% for weighted mean. The obtained weighted mean 206Pb/238U age is in good agreement with the age obtained by Yuan (2004). Trace element concentrations of NIST612 and NIST614 obtained under the same LA-ICP-MS operating conditions agree with the recommended values within analytical error. The results indicate that it is possible to measure U-Pb age and trace elements simultaneously by LA-ICP-MS in a small spot size of 20 μm. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40472099, 40521001 and 40673019) and Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant Nos. IRT0441 and 306021)