Calibration of GA1550 biotite standard for K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating

The mineral separate GA1550 biotite has become an international standard for K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating studies, although it was prepared as an intralaboratory standard at ANU to monitor tracer depletion from a gas pipette. It is one of a small number of samples that has been calibrated against 38Ar tracers, some of which had been mixed with known amounts of atmospheric argon, so that a so-called primary calibration has been performed. By measuring GA1550 biotite against additional tracers from the same batch we have determined the radiogenic argon content of this sample as 1.342 (± 0.007) × 10− 9 mol/g, and together with the measured K content of 7.645 (± 0.050) weight percent, we derive a best estimate for the K/Ar age as 98.5 ± 0.5 Ma, where the error is derived from averaging the ages determined relative to the 38Ar tracer.

Research Highlights
► GA1550 biotite as a standard for K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating.
► Primary calibration of 38Ar tracers versus known amounts of air argon.
► GA1550 biotite versus tracers from same batch to determine radiogenic argon content.
► K measured by flame photometry, yielding age of GA1550 biotite of 98.5 ± 0.5 Ma.