(U–Th)/He dating of volcanic phenocrysts with high-U–Th inclusions, Jemez Volcanic Field, New Mexico

We measured (U–Th)/He ages of fayalite and hedenbergite phenocrysts with britholite and chevkinite inclusions from the ∼1.6 Ma Otowi (Lower) Member of the Bandelier Tuff, Jemez Volcanic Field. U and Th, the major parent nuclides of radiogenic 4He, are concentrated in britholite and chevkinite inclusions and are essentially absent from the host grains. We analyzed 36 fayalite (21 non-abraded + 15 abraded) and 13 hedenbergite (7 non-abraded + 6 abraded) phenocrysts, and applied alpha-ejection corrections assuming uniform intracrystalline distributions of inclusions and parent nuclides in the phenocrysts. A subset of phenocrysts was subjected to abrasion to remove the alpha-ejection affected regions. The alpha-ejection correction factors (FT) of the non-abraded samples range between 0.90 and 0.96, whereas those of the abraded samples are virtually unity. The fayalite and hedenbergite crystals yield mean ages of 1.60 ± 0.10 Ma (S.D.) and 1.69 ± 0.13 Ma, respectively. The overall mean age of 1.62 ± 0.11 Ma (S.D.) is indistinguishable from previously published 40Ar/39Ar ages of 1.61 ± 0.01 Ma (1σ). Our results suggest that other inclusion-bearing volcanic phenocrysts and their host units may be dateable by the (U–Th)/He method.