Evans, Noreen J.McInnes, Brent I.A.McDonald, Brad J.Danišík, MartinJourdan, FredMayers, CeliaThern, EricCorbett, Dudley2013-01-242013-01-242012-07-142013Evans, N. J., McInnes, B. I. A., McDonald, B., Danišík, M., Jourdan, F., Mayers, C., & Corbett, D. (2013). Emplacement age and thermal footprint of the diamondiferous Ellendale E9 lamproite pipe, Western Australia. Mineralium Deposita, 48(3), 413-421.0026-4598https://hdl.handle.net/10289/7113The diamondiferous Ellendale 9 (E9) pipe is a funnel-shaped maar-diatreme volcano consisting of inward-dipping tuff sequences intruded by lamproite plugs and dykes. The host rocks for the E9 pipe are Permian sandstones. The multiple lithological contacts exposed within the mined maar volcano provide a natural laboratory in which to study the effect of volcanic processes on U-Th-Pb-He systematics. Zircon from the regional sandstone and E9 lamproite display a bimodal distribution of ages on (U-Th)/He-U/Pb plots. The zircon U/Pb ages for the E9 pipe (n = 52) range from 440 to 2,725 Ma, while the cluster of (U-Th)/He ages for the lamproite dyke zircon indicate that dyke emplacement occurred at 20.6 ± 2.8 Ma, concordant with a maximum emplacement age of about ≤22 Ma from phlogopite ⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar. These ages indicate a xenocrystic origin for the zircon entrained in the E9 dyke. The U/Pb ages of detrital zircon from the regional sandstone host (373-3,248 Ma; n = 41) are indistinguishable from those of the lamproite zircon xenocrysts, whereas the detrital zircon in the host sandstone yield (U-Th)/He ages from 260 to 1,500 Ma. A thermochronology traverse across the E9 lamproite dyke reveals that the zircon (U-Th)/He ages in the host sandstone have not been significantly thermally reset during dyke emplacement, even at the contact. The capability of the zircon (U-Th)/He method to distinguish deep, mantle source lithologies from upper crustal source lithologies could be used in geochemical exploration for diamonds. Pre-screening of detrital samples using etching and helium assay methods will improve the efficiency and decrease the cost of greenfields exploration.en(U-Th)/HediamondEllendaleexplorationgeochronologylamproitethermochronologyU-PbJournal Article10.1007/s00126-012-0430-7