Two amphiboles and a syn-metamorphic quartz vein from the Yuka terrane, North Qaidam, western China, have been analyzed by joint 40Ar/39Ar crushing in vacuo and stepwise heating techniques. The crushing in vacuo results provide information to directly constrain the timing of fluid activity and the age of amphibolite-facies retrogression. The stepwise heating results could further be used to decipher the thermal history of the UHP rocks. Amphiboles from amphibolites and quartz vein within garnet-amphibolite lens analyzed by in vacuo crushing yield similarly shaped age spectra and exhibit relatively flat age plateaus for the last several steps. The characteristics of gas release patterns and geochronological data testify to the presence of significant excess 40Ar within the fluid inclusions. The age plateaux with weighted mean ages (WMA) ranges from 488 to 476 Ma for amphiboles and 403 Ma for quartz (2σ). These data points constitute amphibole WMA yielding excellent isochrons with isochron ages of 469 and 463 Ma with initial 40Ar/36Ar ratios of 520 and 334, respectively. The isochron ages are interpreted to represent initial amphibolite-facies retrogression. The data points constituting the quartz age plateaux give an isochron age of 405 Ma with initial 40Ar/36Ar ratio of 295, recording a significant aqueous fluid flow episode during the early Devonian. Age spectra obtained by stepwise heating of amphibole residues remaining after crushing experiments are characterized by younger and relatively complex age spectra, which are probably influenced by the combined effects of resetting argon and/or mineral inclusions. Nevertheless, we note that the spectra shapes have features in common: excluding the last two steps, minimum apparent ages are found at temperatures of around 500 °C, corresponding to 319 and 249 Ma, perhaps representing the time of isotopic resetting or resulting from release gas from mineral inclusions of, e.g., biotite or feldspar. Maximum apparent ages are obtained at temperatures of around 800 °C, corresponding to 418 and 413 Ma, which probably reflect mixed ages of radiogenic resetting and original amphibole. These results indicate that the Yuka eclogites and their retrogressed equivalents were overprinted by multiple thermal events in the Silurian and possibly as young as the Triassic

Mineralization ages of many mineral deposit types (such as orogenic Au, stratabound Cu, and Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn deposits) are still difficult to date by the traditional isotopic chronometry because of the lack of suitable minerals. We have made efforts to establish a widely suitable dating technique to determine ore formation ages using a high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method on ubiquitously present fluid inclusions in quartz, sphalerite, and other nonpotassium minerals from hydrothermal deposits. The Xitian W-Sn polymetallic deposit in central South China contains several minerals suitable for isotopic dating for interchronometer comparison. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar laser step heating of 16 micas from ore veins, greisen, and metallogenic granites yields flat age spectra and thus well-defined ore formation ages ranging from 152.4 ± 1.5 (2σ) to 148.1 ± 1.4 Ma with an average of 150.2 ± 0.6 Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar progressive crushing of nine quartz samples produces well-defined isochron lines for their primary fluid inclusions corresponding to isochron ages of 153.7–149.9 Ma with an average of 151.6 ± 0.6 Ma. Cassiterites from three hand specimens have weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 151.5 ± 1.7 (2σ), 149.7 ± 2.1, and 151.7 ± 2.1 Ma. All these new geochronological dates and previous molybdenite Re-Os ages yield well-constrained mineralization ages of 153–148 Ma for the Xitian W-Sn polymetallic deposit, which also confirms conclusively that the quartz ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar progressive crushing technique is a feasible, valid dating technique. Furthermore, significant age information on the secondary fluid inclusions is potentially obtained simultaneously by this technique. We expect that this novel dating technique will be widely applied to determine the geologic fluids trapped in minerals during hydrothermal mineralization, hydrocarbon accumulation, metamorphism, tectonic activities, and other geologic processes.