Conférence GM & ED Gaïa :
Potential, premises, and pitfalls of illite geochronology

by Mathias HUECK

University of São Paulo (Brazil) & University of Bochum (Germany)

at 11:00 amphi 23.01 campus Triolet – Université de Montpellier

Participer à la conférence Zoom (ID de réunion : 93757873200)

The Ar/Ar and K-Ar dating of illite and clay-sized white mica is a powerful geochronological tool that can provide reliable ages for diverse geological processes such as burial- and fluid-controlled diagenesis and weathering, to low-temperature regional metamorphism and folding, as well as fault activity in the brittle and ductile-brittle regimes. Because of its versatility, it has become an established method that has been used in hundreds of studies around the world, offering valuable insights into the evolution of sedimentary basins and the interplay between deformation and fluid flow in the upper crust. Nonetheless, the interpretation of illite dates is not straightforward, as individual results are often scattered, both in systematic sample sets and in grain-size separated aliquots from the same sample. Hence, special strategies have to be devised for correctly interpreting this kind of data. The talk will present both sides of the equation: the potential and flexibility of illite geochronology in addressing different geological questions, as well as the precautions that should be made when interpreting the resulting ages.

Mathias Hueck is a graduate of the University of São Paulo (Brazil), a PhD student at the University of Göttingen (Germany), a post-doctoral fellow at the University of São Paulo, and currently a research associate at the University of Bochum (Germany). His main field of research is the interaction between tectonics, geochronology and petrology, and its application to the reconstruction of regional geological evolutions and the calibration of tectonic processes.