In Situ Zircon Lu-Hf Isotopic Analyses on the Sapphire 1700 MC-ICPMS: Example from the San Gabriel Anorthosite, CA and Implications for Planetary Analogs

The mineral zircon is the primary choice for U-Pb geochronology and the coupling of these ages to the zircon’s Lu-Hf isotopic composition provides a powerful tool for elucidating magmatic sources, as well as elucidating the temporal evolution of the crust-mantle system. The number of published studies with Lu-Hf in zircon measurements has increased rapidly with the development and improvement of laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) [e.g., 1]. On a smaller scale, there has also been an increase in studies using the Lu-Hf isotopic system in zircon to advance our understanding of the formation of non-terrestrial planetary bodies (e.g. petrogenesis of lunar [2] and martian zircon [3]).
From a precious extraterrestrial sample perspective, with limited amount of sample available, there is a need to continuously to document the capabilities and limitations of semi-destructive in-situ geochemical measurement techniques. Here, we report the in-situ zircon Lu-Hf measurement capabilities of the Sapphire 1700 MC-ICPMS, a first, and discuss a Mesoproterozoic analog sample. Namely, a pegmatitic zircon from the San Gabriel Mountain anorthosite, CA.