Neon diffusion kinetics and implications for cosmogenic neon paleothermometry in feldspars

Observations of cosmogenic neon concentrations in feldspars can potentially be used to constrain the surface exposure duration or surface temperature history of geologic samples. The applicability of cosmogenic neon to either application depends on the temperature-dependent diffusivity of neon isotopes. In this work, we investigate the kinetics of neon diffusion in feldspars of different compositions and geologic origins through stepwise degassing experiments on single, proton-irradiated crystals. To understand the potential causes of complex diffusion behavior that is sometimes manifest as nonlinearity in Arrhenius plots, we compare our results to argon stepwise degassing experiments previously conducted on the same feldspars. Many of the feldspars we studied exhibit linear Arrhenius behavior for neon whereas argon degassing from the same feldspars did not. This suggests that nonlinear behavior in argon experiments is an artifact of structural changes during laboratory heating. However, other feldspars that we examined exhibit nonlinear Arrhenius behavior for neon diffusion at temperatures far below any known structural changes, which suggests that some preexisting material property is responsible for the complex behavior. In general, neon diffusion kinetics vary widely across the different feldspars studied, with estimated activation energies (Ea) ranging from 83.3 to 110.7 kJ/mol and apparent pre-exponential factors (D0) spanning three orders of magnitude from 2.4 × 10−3 to 8.9 × 10−1 cm2 s−1. As a consequence of this variability, the ability to reconstruct temperatures or exposure durations from cosmogenic neon abundances will depend on both the specific feldspar and the surface temperature conditions at the geologic site of interest.