Comparative 40Ar/39Ar and K-Ar dating of illite-type clay minerals: A tentative explanation for age identities and differences

The K-40/40Ar (K-Ar) and 40Ar/39Ar dating methods are applied here to the same, very small, micrometric illite-type particles that crystallized under low-temperature (<175 degrees C) hydrothermal conditions in deeply buried Rotliegend (Permian) gas-bearing sandstones of NW Germany. Four samples with a total of fifteen size fractions from <2 to 20-40 mu m yield K-Ar ages that range from 166.0 +/- 3.4 to 214.0 +/- 5.9 Ma. The same size fractions dated by the 40Ar/39Ar method give total-gas ages ranging from 173.3 +/- 2.0 to 228.8 +/- 1.6 Ma. Nearly all 40Ar/39Ar total-gas ages are slightly older, which cannot be explained by the recoil effect only, the impact of which being amplified by the inhomogeneous shape of the clay minerals and their crystallographic characteristics, with varied crystallinity indices, and a particle width about 10 times large than thickness. The 40Ar/39Ar data outline some advantages, such as the plateaus obtained by incremental step heating of the various size fractions, even if not translatable straight as ages of the illite populations; they allow identification of two generations of authigenic illite that formed at about 200 and 175 Ma, and one detrital generation. However, 40Ar/39Ar dating of clay minerals remains challenging as technical factors, such as the non-standardized encapsulation, may have potential unexpected effects. Both dating methods have their limitations: (1) K-Ar dating requires relatively large samples (ca. 10-20 mg) incurring potential sample homogeneity problems, with two aliquots required for K and Ar analysis for an age determination, also inducing a higher analytical uncertainty; (2) an identified drawback of 40Ar/39Ar dating is Ar recoil and therefore potential loss that occurs during neutronic creation of 39Ar from K-39, mostly in the finer mineral particles. If all the recoiled 39Ar is redistributed into adjacent grains/minerals, the final 40Ar/39Ar age of the analyzed size fraction remains theoretically identical, but it is not systematic in clay-type material. The finest grain sizes (e.g., <0.2 mu m) are usually least contaminated with detrital components and can be dated by the K-Ar method without special preparation. Alternatively, such fine fractions are most susceptible to 39Ar recoil, and are, therefore, only datable by the 40Ar/39Ar method using an encapsulation technique that still needs to be technically evaluated. In this study, 39Ar recoil during irradiation was quantified by encapsulation; it ranged from about 20% of the total 39Ar for the <0.2 mu m fractions to ca. 10% for the 2-6 mu m fractions. Basic interpolation of this 39Ar recoil confirms that grain size increasing minimizes the recoil effect, but how it proceeds has still to be explained. Despite recent developments in 40Ar/39Ar dating, the conventional K-Ar method is still a valuable tool for clay dating due to a convenient and straightforward use supported by a standardized and well-controlled technical approach. The present comparison of the two Ar-dating methods as applied to clay material shows that neither method is presently outdated, and that they are even of reciprocal use. Both methods have distinct application fields in clay geochronology and complementary application fields in clay crystallography. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. The K-40/40Ar (K-Ar) and 40Ar/39Ar dating methods are applied here to the same, very small, micrometric illite-type particles that crystallized under low-temperature (<175 degrees C) hydrothermal conditions in deeply buried Rotliegend (Permian) gas-bearing sandstones of NW Germany. Four samples with a total of fifteen size fractions from <2 to 20-40 mu m yield K-Ar ages that range from 166.0 +/- 3.4 to 214.0 +/- 5.9 Ma. The same size fractions dated by the 40Ar/39Ar method give total-gas ages ranging from 173.3 +/- 2.0 to 228.8 +/- 1.6 Ma. Nearly all 40Ar/39Ar total-gas ages are slightly older, which cannot be explained by the recoil effect only, the impact of which being amplified by the inhomogeneous shape of the clay minerals and their crystallographic characteristics, with varied crystallinity indices, and a particle width about 10 times large than thickness. The 40Ar/39Ar data outline some advantages, such as the plateaus obtained by incremental step heating of the various size fractions, even if not translatable straight as ages of the illite populations; they allow identification of two generations of authigenic illite that formed at about 200 and 175 Ma, and one detrital generation. However, 40Ar/39Ar dating of clay minerals remains challenging as technical factors, such as the non-standardized encapsulation, may have potential unexpected effects. Both dating methods have their limitations: (1) K-Ar dating requires relatively large samples (ca. 10-20 mg) incurring potential sample homogeneity problems, with two aliquots required for K and Ar analysis for an age determination, also inducing a higher analytical uncertainty; (2) an identified drawback of 40Ar/39Ar dating is Ar recoil and therefore potential loss that occurs during neutronic creation of 39Ar from K-39, mostly in the finer mineral particles. If all the recoiled 39Ar is redistributed into adjacent grains/minerals, the final 40Ar/39Ar age of the analyzed size fraction remains theoretically identical, but it is not systematic in clay-type material. The finest grain sizes (e.g., <0.2 mu m) are usually least contaminated with detrital components and can be dated by the K-Ar method without special preparation. Alternatively, such fine fractions are most susceptible to 39Ar recoil, and are, therefore, only datable by the 40Ar/39Ar method using an encapsulation technique that still needs to be technically evaluated. In this study, 39Ar recoil during irradiation was quantified by encapsulation; it ranged from about 20% of the total 39Ar for the <0.2 mu m fractions to ca. 10% for the 2-6 mu m fractions. Basic interpolation of this 39Ar recoil confirms that grain size increasing minimizes the recoil effect, but how it proceeds has still to be explained. Despite recent developments in 40Ar/39Ar dating, the conventional K-Ar method is still a valuable tool for clay dating due to a convenient and straightforward use supported by a standardized and well-controlled technical approach. The present comparison of the two Ar-dating methods as applied to clay material shows that neither method is presently outdated, and that they are even of reciprocal use. Both methods have distinct application fields in clay geochronology and complementary application fields in clay crystallography. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. The K-40/40Ar (K-Ar) and 40Ar/39Ar dating methods are applied here to the same, very small, micrometric illite-type particles that crystallized under low-temperature (<175 degrees C) hydrothermal conditions in deeply buried Rotliegend (Permian) gas-bearing sandstones of NW Germany. Four samples with a total of fifteen size fractions from <2 to 20-40 mu m yield K-Ar ages that range from 166.0 +/- 3.4 to 214.0 +/- 5.9 Ma. The same size fractions dated by the 40Ar/39Ar method give total-gas ages ranging from 173.3 +/- 2.0 to 228.8 +/- 1.6 Ma. Nearly all 40Ar/39Ar total-gas ages are slightly older, which cannot be explained by the recoil effect only, the impact of which being amplified by the inhomogeneous shape of the clay minerals and their crystallographic characteristics, with varied crystallinity indices, and a particle width about 10 times large than thickness. The 40Ar/39Ar data outline some advantages, such as the plateaus obtained by incremental step heating of the various size fractions, even if not translatable straight as ages of the illite populations; they allow identification of two generations of authigenic illite that formed at about 200 and 175 Ma, and one detrital generation. However, 40Ar/39Ar dating of clay minerals remains challenging as technical factors, such as the non-standardized encapsulation, may have potential unexpected effects. Both dating methods have their limitations: (1) K-Ar dating requires relatively large samples (ca. 10-20 mg) incurring potential sample homogeneity problems, with two aliquots required for K and Ar analysis for an age determination, also inducing a higher analytical uncertainty; (2) an identified drawback of 40Ar/39Ar dating is Ar recoil and therefore potential loss that occurs during neutronic creation of 39Ar from K-39, mostly in the finer mineral particles. If all the recoiled 39Ar is redistributed into adjacent grains/minerals, the final 40Ar/39Ar age of the analyzed size fraction remains theoretically identical, but it is not systematic in clay-type material. The finest grain sizes (e.g., <0.2 mu m) are usually least contaminated with detrital components and can be dated by the K-Ar method without special preparation. Alternatively, such fine fractions are most susceptible to 39Ar recoil, and are, therefore, only datable by the 40Ar/39Ar method using an encapsulation technique that still needs to be technically evaluated. In this study, 39Ar recoil during irradiation was quantified by encapsulation; it ranged from about 20% of the total 39Ar for the <0.2 mu m fractions to ca. 10% for the 2-6 mu m fractions. Basic interpolation of this 39Ar recoil confirms that grain size increasing minimizes the recoil effect, but how it proceeds has still to be explained. Despite recent developments in 40Ar/39Ar dating, the conventional K-Ar method is still a valuable tool for clay dating due to a convenient and straightforward use supported by a standardized and well-controlled technical approach. The present comparison of the two Ar-dating methods as applied to clay material shows that neither method is presently outdated, and that they are even of reciprocal use. Both methods have distinct application fields in clay geochronology and complementary application fields in clay crystallography. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.