Apatite U–Pb dating of dinosaur teeth from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia: Contribution to depositional age constraints

The Nemegt Formation in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, hosts abundant dinosaur and other vertebrate remains, the ages of which are uncertain due to a lack of radioactive dating. In order to more strictly constrain the depositional age of Nemegt Formation, we conducted U–Pb isotope, trace elements, and Y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The island arc 2023-01, Vol.32 (1), p.n/a
Main Authors: Tanabe, Myu, Aoki, Kazumasa, Chiba, Kentaro, Saneyoshi, Mototaka, Kodaira, Shota, Nishido, Hirotsugu, Mainbayar, Buuvei, Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav, Ishigaki, Shinobu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Age
Apatite
Cretaceous
Deserts
dinosaur
Fossils
Gobi
Inductively coupled plasma
Isotopes
Laser ablation
Lead
Maastrichtian
Mass spectrometry
Mass spectroscopy
Nemegt formation
Radiometric dating
Screening
Tarbosaurus
Teeth
Trace elements
U–Pb
Vertebrates
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Summary:The Nemegt Formation in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, hosts abundant dinosaur and other vertebrate remains, the ages of which are uncertain due to a lack of radioactive dating. In order to more strictly constrain the depositional age of Nemegt Formation, we conducted U–Pb isotope, trace elements, and Y‐screening analyses using laser‐ablation inductively‐coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) on apatites of five Tarbosaurus bataar teeth collected from the middle Nemegt Formation. As a result, the age of 66.7 ± 2.5 Ma was obtained from one of the samples which is suggested to be least affected by secondary alteration of the U distribution, and this can be interpreted as a lower limit for fossilization of the tooth samples. Combined with the previously suggested relative age of the Nemegt Formation based on faunal occurrences, our data supports the deposition of the middle–upper Nemegt Formation during the Maastrichtian stage. Given that the depositional age of the Nemegt Formation has not been examined by isotope dating directly using fossils and minerals from the formation, this study is the first to report that the depositional ages of the vertebrate‐bearing strata in the Gobi can be discussed by fossil apatite U–Pb dating in combination with the Y‐screening method.
ISSN:1038-4871
1440-1738
DOI:10.1111/iar.12488