Microstructural geochronology: planetary records down to atom scale

Part I: Chemical Microstructure/Zoning
1. Zircon as Magma Monitor: Robust, Temperature-Dependent Partition Coefficients from Glass and Zircon Surface and Rim Measurements from Natural Systems
2. Petrology and Geochronology of Metamorphic Zircon
3. Origins of Textural, Compositional, and Isotopic Complexity in Monazite and Its Petrochronological Analysis
4. Application of Single-Shot Laser Ablation Split-Stream Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to Accessory Phase Petrochronology
5. Comparing Chemical Microstructures of Some Early Solar System Zircon from Differentiated Asteroids, Mars and Earth
6. Crystallization of Baddeleyite in Basaltic Rocks from Mars, and Comparisons with the Earth, Moon, and Vesta
Part II: Orientation Microstructure
7. Strength and Deformation of Zircon at Crustal and Mantle Pressures
8. Role of Elastic Anisotropy in the Development of Deformation Microstructures in Zircon
9. The Rietputs Formation in South Africa: A Pleistocene Fluvial Archive of Meteorite Impact Unique to the Kaapvaal Craton
10. Deciphering the Effects of Zircon Deformation and Recrystallization to Resolve the Age and Heritage
11. Alpha Recoil Loss of Pb from Baddeleyite Evaluated by High-Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP II) Depth Profiling and Numerical Modeling: Implications for the Interpretation of U-Pb Ages in Small Baddeleyite Crystals
12. Transmission Electron Microscope Imaging Sharpens Geochronological Interpretation of Zircon and Monazite
Part III: 3D Nanostructure
13. Detecting Micro- and Nanoscale Variations in Element Mobility in High-Grade Metamorphic Rocks: Implication for Precise U-Pb Dating of Zircon
14. The Optimization of Zircon Analyses by Laser-Assisted Atom Probe Microscopy: Insights from the 91500 Zircon Standard
15. Atom Probe Tomography of Phalaborwa Baddeleyite and Reference Zircon BR266
16. Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis for Spatial and Spectral Processing of Pb Isotopes in Zircon by Atom Probe Tomography
17. Complex Nanostructures in Shocked, Annealed, and Metamorphosed Baddeleyite Defined by Atom Probe Tomography
18. Best Practices for Reporting Atom Probe Analysis of Geological Materials

Geochronology techniques enable the study of geological evolution and environmental change over time. This volume integrates two aspects of geochronology: one based on classical methods of orientation and spatial patterns, and the other on ratios of radioactive isotopes and their decay products.

The chapters illustrate how material science techniques are taking this field to the atomic scale, enabling us to image the chemical and structural record of mineral lattice growth and deformation, and sometimes the patterns of radioactive parent and daughter atoms themselves, to generate a microstructural geochronology from some of the most resilient materials in the solar system.

• First compilation of research focusing on the crystal structure, material properties, and chemical zoning of the geochronology mineral archive down to nanoscale
• Novel comparisons of mineral time archives from different rocky planets and asteroids and their shock metamorphic histories
• Fundamentals on how to reconstruct and date radiogenic isotope distributions using atom probe tomography

Microstructural Geochronology will be a valuable resource for graduate students, academics, and researchers in the fields of petrology, geochronology, mineralogy, geochemistry, planetary geology, astrobiology, chemistry, and material science. It will also appeal to philosophers and historians of science from other disciplines.