U–Th–Pb zircon geochronology by ID-TIMS, SIMS, and laser ablation ICP-MS: Recipes, interpretations, and opportunities

The chronologic record encoded in accessory minerals, based on the radioactive decay of U and Th, is indispensable to extract quantitative process rates over timescales encompassing Earth's evolution from the Hadean to the Holocene, and extending from terrestrial to extra-terrestrial realms. We have essentially three different U–Pb dating tools at hand, a high-precision, whole-grain bulk technique (isotope-dilution thermal ionization mass...