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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2790</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Coupled K&amp;ndash;Ca and Rb&amp;ndash;Sr dating by LA-ICP-MS/MS &amp;ndash; reaction gas optimisation and geological applications</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gilbert</surname>
<given-names>Sarah E.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Glorie</surname>
<given-names>Stijn</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3107-9028</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lloyd</surname>
<given-names>Jarred C.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Adelaide Microscopy, Adelaide University, Adelaide, 5005, Australia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Discipline of Earth Sciences, School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Adelaide University, Adelaide, 5005, Australia</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>02</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>29</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Sarah E. Gilbert et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2790/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2790/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2790/egusphere-2026-2790.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2790/egusphere-2026-2790.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Both the Rb-Sr and K-Ca &amp;beta;-decay isotopic systems can be used to date a range of mica and feldspar group minerals and have the potential to unravel cooling and alteration processes in a wide range of geological settings. The development of LA-ICP-MS/MS has enabled direct in-situ analysis of these &amp;beta;-decay geochronometers via chemical separation with reactive gases within the mass-spectrometer. As well as rapid analysis, the main advantage of in-situ K&amp;ndash;Ca dating is that Ca- and Sr-bearing inclusions can be avoided, which are a limiting factor for conventional bulk mineral dating via TIMS. Both Sr and Ca are highly reactive with both SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O to form M-F, M-O or M-OH reaction products, while K and Rb are unreactive with either gas, enabling efficient separation of the parent-daughter &lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;K&amp;ndash;&lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;Ca and &lt;sup&gt;87&lt;/sup&gt;Rb&amp;ndash;&lt;sup&gt;87&lt;/sup&gt;Sr isotope pairs. Additionally, mixing a small amount of H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; with SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; or N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O efficiently eliminates &lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;Ar based interferences and reduces the background generated by the high ion load in the reaction cell when measuring mass/charge ratio (m/z) 40. This study compares the accuracy, precision and product ion sensitivity between four reaction gas combinations: SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; only, SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; plus 2 ml min&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O plus 7 ml min&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O plus 10 ml min&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, by analysing a range of micas and feldspars with previously constrained dates: MDC &amp;amp; Kola phlogopites, H&amp;ouml;gsbo and Robins Folly muscovites, G71560 polylithionite, and F-KN and Bohus K-feldspars. Using these gas mixtures we present coupled Rb&amp;ndash;Sr and K&amp;ndash;Ca dates from a single ablation spot in low Ca-bearing (5&amp;ndash;300 ppm) micas and feldspars to within 2 and 5 % age uncertainty, respectively. The direct coupling of Rb&amp;ndash;Sr and K&amp;ndash;Ca dates within the same ablation volume allows assessment of isotopic disturbances at high spatial resolution. The gas combination of SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; plus 2 ml min&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; was found to be most effective for coupled K&amp;ndash;Ca and Rb&amp;ndash;Sr dating in generating the highest sensitivity of reacted species and in reducing the background for reacted &lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;Ca. Analysis of the FK-N feldspar from Madras, India shows the potential for the two isotopic systems to reveal decoupled dates, with the 515 &amp;plusmn; 22 Ma Rb&amp;ndash;Sr date representing the crystallisation of the granite and the 437 &amp;plusmn; 38 Ma K&amp;ndash;Ca date indicating late-stage hydrothermal activity.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="29"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Australian Research Council</funding-source>
<award-id>DP260104272</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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