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Week 10: March 20-24 (including lecture on April 7)

Isotopes and trace elements in igneous petrology
  • Radiogenic, heavy isotopes
    • definitions
      • isotope
      • radioactive
      • radiogenic
      • stable
      • non-radiogenic
    • isotopes of the U-Pb, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd systems
    • causes of variability in isotopes (parent-daughter ratio and time)
    • causes of variation in parent-daughter ratios
    • distribution of isotopes between crust and mantle with time
    • Example - the Rb-Sr system
    • applications to petrology - dating and tracers
    • isochrons
  • Trace elements
    • Compatible trace elements
    • Incompatible trace elements
      • High field strength elements (HFSE)
      • Large ion lithophile elements (LILE)
      • The rare earth elements (REE) - a special group
        • light rare earths
        • heavy rare earths
    • Spidergrams
      • arrangment of elements from most incompatible to least incompatible
      • normalization (usually by chondritic values)
      • spidergrams of "primitive mantle" - relatively "flat" patterns
      • spidergrams of MORBs - depleted in more incompatible elements
      • spidergrams of OIBs - enriched in more incompatible elements
      • spidergrams of arc magmas - "spiked" pattern: enrichment in fluid-mobile elements; depletion in some fluid-immobile elements
      • interpretation of above patterns in terms of magma sources and processes

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