Eruption age of the Sverrefjellet volcano, Spitsbergen Island, Norway
Sverrefjellet is a Pleistocene-age basaltic volcanic construct on north-western Spitsbergen Island (Svalbard Archipelago, Norway). Published ages for the Sverrefjellet eruption range between 6000 years and ca. 1 million years before present. The age of eruption is dated here as 1.05±0.07...
| Published in: | Polar Research |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Norwegian Polar Institute
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.17320 https://doaj.org/article/06de31fc436d49448e97274ebde19f1b |
| Summary: | Sverrefjellet is a Pleistocene-age basaltic volcanic construct on north-western Spitsbergen Island (Svalbard Archipelago, Norway). Published ages for the Sverrefjellet eruption range between 6000 years and ca. 1 million years before present. The age of eruption is dated here as 1.05±0.07 (1σ) My, consistent with Ar–Ar isochron and plateau ages of several analysed samples. Radiogenic Ar represents a small proportion of the released Ar, <15% in nearly all samples. Non-radiogenic Ar components include air, excess 40Ar (seen as inverse isochron intercept values >40Ar/36Ar = 295.5), low-temperature alterations (Ar release at low temperature, with high Cl/K), carbonates and zeolites (Ar release at intermediate temperature) and xenolithic material (Ar release at high temperature, high Ca/K). The effects of the largely non-radiogenic argon sources are also seen in the total-gas Ar–Ar “ages”, which range from 1.3 to 10.3 My, significantly larger than the inferred eruption age. It is likely that total-gas Ar–Ar “ages” and whole-rock K–Ar “ages” of similar basalts also exceed their true eruption ages.To access the supplementary material to this article please see Supplementary files under Article Tools online. |
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