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TEMORA standard

Geoscience Australia continues to undertake Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) research, particularly with respect to identifying and documenting better standards, and to establishing whether past and present standards yield equivalent results.

During the course of this study, a particularly attractive candidate was located within a high-level mafic stock in the Lachlan Fold Belt near Temora, in central New South Wales. Because of its proximity, availability and isotopic integrity, this zircon (now known as TEMORA zircon) has become Geoscience Australia's main SHRIMP standard for Phanerozoic dating. It also has become a vital part of Geoscience Australia's continuing research into the interrelationships between standards used in different laboratories and in deriving a better understanding of the SHRIMP. This research is designed to produce isotopic ages which are more precise and more reliable, thereby reducing uncertainty in any geological interpretations on which they are based. The TEMORA standard has been widely distributed to other dating laboratories throughout the world and is used to test the accuracy of laboratories in North America and Europe.

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