An (U-Th)/He age for the small Monturaqui impact structure, Chile

Single-crystal (U-Th)/He dating of 32 apatite and zircon crystals from an impact breccia yielded a weighted mean age of 663 +/- 28 ka (n = 3; 4.2 % 2s uncertainties) for the Monturaqui impact structure, Chile. This similar to 350 m diameter simple crater preserves a small volume of impactite consisting of polymict breccias that are dominated by reworked target rock clasts. The small size, young age and limited availability of melt material for traditional geochronological techniques made Monturaqui a good test to define the lower limits of the (U-Th)/He system to successfully date impact events. Numerical modeling of He-4 loss in apatite and zircon crystals shows that, for even small craters such as Monturaqui, the short-lived compressional stage and shock metamorphic stage can account for the observed partial to full resetting of (U-Th)/He ages in accessory minerals. Despite the distinctly different He-4 diffusion parameters of apatite and zircon, the 2s-overlapping youngest ages are recorded in both populations of minerals, which supports the inference that the weighted mean of the youngest (U-Th)/He population is the age of formation of this impact structure.

Automated summary

Single-crystal (U-Th)/He dating of 32 apatite and zircon crystals from an impact breccia in the Monturaqui impact structure in Chile yielded a weighted mean age of 663 +/- 28 ka. Numerical modeling showed that even in small craters like Monturaqui, the short-lived compressional stage and shock metamorphic stage can explain the observed partial to full resetting of (U-Th)/He ages in accessory minerals.