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ISOTOPE GEOLOGY

Radiogenic and stable isotopes are used widely in the Earth sciences to determine the ages of rocks,
meteorites, and archeological objects, and as tracers to understand geological and environmental
processes. Isotope methods determine the age of the Earth, help reconstruct the climate of the past, and
explain the formation of the chemical elements in the Universe. This textbook provides a comprehensive
introduction to both radiogenic and stable isotope techniques. An understanding of the basic principles
of isotope geology is important in a wide range of the sciences: geology, astronomy, paleontology,
geophysics, climatology, archeology, and others.
Claude Allègre is one of the world’s most respected and best-known geochemists, and this textbook has
been developed from his many years of teaching and research experience.
Isotope Geology is tailored for all undergraduate and graduate courses on the topic, and is also an
excellent reference text for all Earth scientists.

c l a u d e a l l è g r e is extremely well known globally in the Earth science research and teaching
community. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the Institut Universitaire de France, Université
Denis Diderot, and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and has had a long and illustrious career in
science. He is a former Director of the Department of Earth Sciences, Université Paris VII, former
Director of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, past President of the French Bureau of Geological
and Mining Research (BRGM), and former National Education Minister for Research and Technology
for the French government. In his career he has won most of the available honours and awards in the
geosciences, including the Crafoord Prize from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Goldschmidt
Medal from the Geochemical Society of America, the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of
London, the Arthur Day Gold Medal from the Geological Society of America, the Médaille d’Or du
CNRS, the Holmes Medal from the European Union Geosciences, and the Bowie Medal from the
American Geophysical Union. He is member of several academics: Foreign Associate of the National
Academy of Sciences (USA), Foreign Member of the Academy of Art and Science, Foreign Member of the
Philosophical Society, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, Foreign Member of the National Academy
of India, and Membre de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris. He is also a Commandeur de la Légion
d’Honneur, a past President of the European Union of Geosciences, past President of the NATO Earth
Sciences Committee, and former editor of the journals Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors and
Chemical Geology. He has written hundreds of research articles, and 25 books in French.
Isotope Geology

CLAUDE J. ALLÈGRE
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
and
Universite´ Denis Diderot
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521862288

© Claude J. Allegre 2008

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the

provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008

ISBN-13 978-0-511-45524-7 eBook (EBL)

ISBN-13 978-0-521-86228-8 hardback

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and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Dedication

I dedicate this book to all those who have helped me to take part in the extraordinary
adventure ofdeveloping isotope geology.
To my family, who have probablysu¡ered from myscienti¢c hyperactivity.
Tothosewhowere paragons for me and havebecomeverydear friends: JerryWasserburg,
Paul Gast, GeorgeWetherill, Al Nier, John Reynolds, MitsunobuTatsumoto, Clair Patterson,
GeorgeTilton, Harmon Craig, Samuel Epstein, Karl Turekian, Paul Damon, Pat Hurley,
Edgar Picciotto,Wally Broecker, and Devendra Lal. I have tried to stand on their shoulders.
To my colleagues and friends with whom I have shared the intense joy of international
scienti¢c competition: Stan Hart, Keith O’Nions, Al Hofmann, Marc Javoy, Don DePaolo,
Charles Langmuir, Jean Guy Schilling, Chris Hawkesworth, and manyothers.
To my undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, to my laboratory
sta¡ and ¢rst and foremost to those who have participated in almost all of this adventure:
Jean-Louis Birck, Ge¤rard Manhe's, Francoise Capmas, Lydia Zerbib, and the sorely missed
Dominique Rousseau. Without them, none of this would have been possible, because
modern research is primarily teamwork in the full sense ofthe word.
CONTENTS

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi

1 Isotopes and radioactivity 1

1.1 Reminders about the atomic nucleus 1
1.2 The mass spectrometer 2
1.3 Isotopy 11
1.4 Radioactivity 18

2 The principles of radioactive dating 29

2.1 Dating by parent isotopes 29
2.2 Dating by parent–daughter isotopes 30
2.3 Radioactive chains 36
2.4 Dating by extinct radioactivity 49
2.5 Determining geologically useful radioactive decay constants 54

3 Radiometric dating methods 58

3.1 General questions 58
3.2 Rich systems and solutions to the problem of the open system 64
3.3 Poor systems and the radiometric isotopic correlation diagram 78
3.4 Mixing and alternative interpretations 94
3.5 Towards the geochronology of the future: in situ analysis 99

4 Cosmogenic isotopes 105

4.1 Nuclear reactions 105
4.2 Carbon-14 dating 112
4.3 Exposure ages 126
4.4 Cosmic irradiation: from nucleosynthesis to stellar and galactic radiation 138

5 Uncertainties and results of radiometric dating 153

5.1 Introduction 153
5.2 Some statistical reminders relative to the calculation of uncertainties 155
viii Contents

5.3 Sources of uncertainty in radiometric dating 166

5.4 Geological interpretations 180
5.5 The geological timescale 188
5.6 The age of the Earth 193
5.7 The cosmic timescale 200
5.8 General remarks on geological and cosmic timescales 209
5.9 Conclusion 215

6 Radiogenic isotope geochemistry 220

6.1 Strontium isotope geochemistry 220
6.2 Strontium–neodymium isotopic coupling 234
6.3 The continental crust–mantle system 248
6.4 Isotope geochemistry of rare gases 277
6.5 Isotope geology of lead 294
6.6 Chemical geodynamics 313
6.7 The early history of the Earth 341
6.8 Conclusion 353

7 Stable isotope geochemistry 358

7.1 Identifying natural isotopic fractionation of light elements 358
7.2 Modes of isotope fractionation 364
7.3 The modalities of isotope fractionation 373
7.4 The paleothermometer 382
7.5 The isotope cycle of water 393
7.6 Oxygen isotopes in igneous processes 400
7.7 Paleothermometry and the water cycle: paleoclimatology 406
7.8 The combined use of stable isotopes and radiogenic isotopes and the
construction of a global geodynamic system 421
7.9 Sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen isotopes and biological fractionation 428
7.10 The current state of stable isotope geochemistry and its future prospects 432

8 Isotope geology and dynamic systems analysis 436

8.1 Basic reservoir analysis: steady states, residence time, and mean ages 439
8.2 Assemblages of reservoirs having reached the steady state 443
8.3 Non-steady states 445
8.4 The laws of evolution of isotope systems 459
References 473
Appendix 490
Further reading 496
Solutions to problems 497
Index of names 508
Subject index 510

The color plates are situated between pages 220 and 221.
PREFACE

Isotope geology is the o¡spring ofgeologyon one hand and of the concepts and methods of
nuclear physics on the other. It was initiallyknown as‘‘nucleargeology’’andthen as‘‘isotope
geochemistry’’ before its current name of isotope geology came to be preferred because it is
based on the measurement and interpretation ofthe isotopic compositions of chemical ele-
ments making up the various natural systems.Variations in these isotope compositions
yield useful information for the geological sciences (in the broad sense). The ¢rst break-
through for isotope geology was the age determination of rocks and minerals, which at a
stroke transformed geology into a quantitative science. Next came the measurement ofpast
temperatures and the birth of paleoclimatology. Then horizons broadened with the emer-
gence ofthe conceptof isotopic tracers to encompassnotonlyquestions ofthe Earth’s struc-
tures and internal dynamics, oferosion, and of the transport of material, but also problems
ofcosmochemistry, including those relating to the origins ofthe chemical elements. And so
isotope geologyhas notonly extended across the entire domain ofthe earth sciencesbut has
also expanded that domain, opening up many newareas, from astrophysics to environmen-
tal studies.
This book is designed to provide an introduction to the methods, techniques, and main
¢ndings of isotope geology.The general character of the subject de¢nes its potential reader-
ship: ¢nal-year undergraduates and postgraduates in the earth sciences (or environmental
sciences), geologists, geophysicists, or climatologists wanting an overviewofthe ¢eld.
This is an educational textbook. To my mind, an educational textbook must set out its
subject matter and explain it, but it must also involve readers in the various stages in the
reasoning. One cannot understand the development and the spirit of a science passively.
The reader must be active.This book therefore makes constant use of questions, exercises,
and problems. I have sought to write a book on isotope geology in the vein of Turcotte and
Schubert’s Geodynamics (Cambridge University Press) or Arthur Beiser’s Concepts of
Modern Physics (McGraw-Hill), which to my mind are exemplary.
As it is an educational textbook, information is sometimes repeated in di¡erent places. As
modern research in the neurosciences shows, learning is based on repetition, and so I have
adopted this approach. This is why, for example, although numerical constants are often
given in the main text, manyof them are listed again in tables at the end. In other cases, I have
deliberately not givenvalues so that readers will have to lookthem up for themselves, because
information one has to seekoutis remembered better than information servedup on aplate.
Readers must therefore work through the exercises, failing which they may not fully
understand how the ideas followon from one another. I have given solutions as we go along,
x Preface

sometimes in detail, sometimes more summarily. At the end of each chapter, I have set a
numberofproblems whose solutions can be found atthe end ofthebook.
Another message I want to get across to students of isotope geology is that this is not an
isolated discipline. It is immersed both in the physical sciences and in the earth sciences.
Hence the deliberate use here and there of concepts from physics, from chemistry
(Boltzmann distribution, Arrhenius equation, etc.), or fromgeology (platetectonics, petro-
graphy, etc.) to encourage study of these essential disciplines and, where need be, to make
readers look up information in basic textbooks. Isotope geology is the outcome of an
encounter between nuclear physics and geology; this multidisciplinary outlook must be
maintained.
Thisbookdoes notsetoutto reviewall the results of isotopegeologybuttobring readers to
a point where they can consult the original literature directly and without di⁄culty. Among
current literature on the same topics, this book could be placed in the same category as
Gunter Faure’s Isotope Geology (Wiley), to be read in preparation for Alan Dickin’s excel-
lent Radiogenic Isotope Geology (Cambridge University Press).
The guideline I have opted to follow has been to leave aside axiomatic exposition and to
take instead a didactic, stepwise approach. The ¢nal chapter alone takes a more synthetic
perspective, while giving pointers for future developments.
I have to give a warning about the references. Since this is a book primarily directed
towards teaching I have not given a full set of references for each topic. I have endeavored to
give due credit to the signi¢cant contributors with the proper order of priority (which is not
always the case in modern scienti¢c journals). Because it is what I am most familiar with, I
have made extensive use ofwork done in my laboratory.This leads to excessive emphasis on
my own laboratory’s contributions in some chapters. I feel sure my colleagues will forgive
mefor this.The references atthe endofeach chapterare supplementedbyalistofsuggestions
for further reading atthe end ofthebook.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all those who have helped me in writing thisbook.
Mycolleagues Bernard Dupre¤, Bruno Hamelin, E¤ric Lewin, Ge¤rard Manhe's, and Laure
Meynadier made many suggestions and remarks right from the outset. Didier Bourles,
Serge Fourcade, Claude Jaupart, and Manuel Moreira actively reread parts of the
manuscript.
I am grateful too to those who helped in producing the book: Sandra Jeunet, who word-
processed a di⁄cult manuscript, Les E¤ditions Belin, and above all Joe«l Dyon, who did the
graphics. Christopher Sutcli¡e hasbeen a most co-operative translator.
My verysincere thanks to all.