Age determination of nephrite by in-situ SIMS U–Pb dating syngenetic titanite: A case study of the nephrite deposit from Luanchuan, Henan, China

• The nephrite from Luanchuan, China is formed in a dolomite marble metasomatism condition.
• In-Situ SIMS U–Pb dating on the syngenetic titanite revealed the formation age of nephrite.
• The Luanchuan nephrite formation is not related to the intrusion of the intruded gabbro.

Nephrite is a kind of valuable jade which forms during metamorphism under greenschist facies conditions. Most investigations focus on the genesis of nephrite, however, the formation age of nephrite remains poorly constrained due to the lack of suitable dating methods. In this paper, the petrological, chemical characteristics, and mineral inclusions of nephrite collected from Luanchuan, Henan, China have been studied by optical and electron microscopy and wavelength-dispersive electron microprobe (EMP). The petrological observations show that nephrite consists mainly of tremolite, minor calcite and titanite, occasionally with rutile, quartz, serpentine, chlorite, pyrite, and apatite. The titanite and tremolite which are intergrown with each other share low-energy grain boundaries. It indicates that the two phases are equilibrated and can be considered as cogenetic. The chemical composition of tremolite is high in Si, Mg, Ca, but low in Fe, Cr, and Ni, which indicates that the nephrite from Luanchuan belongs to the dolomite type rather than the serpentinite type. The petrography of different nephrite structures suggests that the grain size of tremolite was determined by the stress intensity undergone during the nephrite formation progress. In-situ Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) U–Pb dating of titanite from nephrite yielded an age of 361 ± 4 Ma, which is the first estimate for the time of formation of the Luanchuan nephrite deposit. This investigation provides a powerful in-situ dating method to unravel the age of nephrite, which could be served as a tool for future research on other nephrite deposits.