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(U–Th)/He dating of fluorite: application to the La Azul fluorspar deposit in the Taxco mining district, Mexico

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Abstract

The (U–Th)/He dating method was applied to fluorite of the La Azul fluorspar deposit, Taxco mining district, Mexico. Ages of ten U-rich (4–94 μg/g) samples range from 30 to 33 Ma (mean 32±2 Ma, 1σ). This age range is interpreted as the time of primary fluorite precipitation and is close to the K/Ar age of sericite from a small fluorspar deposit (Los Tréboles) in the same area, and the K/Ar age of the nearby volcanic succession, which is thought to be the main source of fluorine in both deposits. This age is also in concordance with the very few published ages of epithermal deposits in southern Mexico. The dating of fluorite by other methods, particularly for young samples, is a difficult task. We believe that the (U–Th)/He method, which has been applied before to thermochronological studies of apatite, zircon, titanite and hematite, can be used as a tool for direct dating of fluorite with microgram per gram levels of uranium and thorium.

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Acknowledgements

This paper benefited from the critical comments of Bernard Lehman, Finlay Stuart and Igor Villa. We are grateful to Barbara M. Martiny for improvement of the English and some useful comments on the manuscript. Funds for analyses and laser instrumentation were provided by CONACyT project No. 32475-T to J. Solé.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd. Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, México

    Teresa Pi & Jesús Solé

  2. Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd. Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, México

    Yuri Taran

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  1. Teresa Pi
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  2. Jesús Solé
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  3. Yuri Taran
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Correspondence to Teresa Pi.

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Editorial handling: B. Lehmann

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Pi, T., Solé, J. & Taran, Y. (U–Th)/He dating of fluorite: application to the La Azul fluorspar deposit in the Taxco mining district, Mexico. Miner Deposita 39, 976–982 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-004-0443-y

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