The Diamantina Monazite: A New Low-Th Reference Material for Microanalysis

Most monazite reference materials (RMs) for in situ U-Pb geochronology are rich in Th; however, many hydrothermal ore deposits contain monazite that is low in trace element contents, including Th, U and Pb. Because of potential problems with matrix effects and the lack of appropriate matrix-matched RMs, such variations can bias dating of hydrothermal deposits. In this paper, we describe a polycrystalline low-U and low-Th Diamantina monazite from the Espinhaço Range, SE Brazil. It has a U-Pb ID-TIMS weighted mean ²⁰⁷Pb^*/²³⁵U ratio of 0.62913 ± 0.00079, ²⁰⁶Pb^*/²³⁸U of 0.079861 ± 0.000088 and ²⁰⁷Pb^*/²⁰⁶Pb^* of 0.057130 ± 0.000031, yielding a weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb^*/²³⁸U date of 495.26 ± 0.54 Ma (95% c.l.). In situ dates acquired with different methods (LA-(Q, SF, MC)-ICP-MS and SIMS) are within uncertainty of the ID-TIMS data. U-Pb LA-(Q, MC)-ICP-MS runs, using Diamantina as a primary RM, reproduced the ages of other established RMs within < 1% deviation. The LA-MC-ICP-MS analyses yielded homogeneous Sm-Nd isotopic compositions (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.511427 ± 23, 2s; ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.1177 ± 13, 2s) and εNd_(495 Ma) of −18.7 ± 0.5 (2s). SIMS oxygen isotope determinations showed measurement reproducibility better than ± 0.3‰ (2s), confirming Diamantina's relative homogeneity at test portion masses below 1 ng.