Research (U-Pb)

The U-Pb Geochronology facility specializes in applying state-of-the-art U-Pb dating of accessory minerals and radiogenic isotopic tracer techniques to solving a wide variety of geological enigmas. Current research projects include Precambrian crust/mantle evolution through time, including the nature of Earth's earliest crust, deciphering the origin of Large Igneous Provinces, the nature of the Archean/Proterozoic boundary, the isotopic architecture of the subcontinental mantle, the origin of kimberlites and associated primary diamond deposits, the evolution of life with a focus on the lifespan and paleodiet of dinosaurs.

Selection of Recent Publications (HQP Underlined)

• Darling J.R., Moser D.E., Heaman L.M., Davis W.J., Stern R., O'Neil J., and Carlson R. (2013). Eoarchean to Neoarchaean evolution of the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt: new insights from U-Pb zircon geochronology. American Journal of Science v.313, 844-876.
• Sandeman, H.A., Heaman, L.M., and LeCheminant, A., (2013). The Paleoproterozoic Kaminak dykes, Hearne craton, western Churchill Province, Nunavut, Canada: Preliminary constraints on their age and petrogenesis. Precambrian Research v.232, 119-139
• Pecoits, E., Konhauser, K.O., Aubet, N.R., Heaman, L.M., Veroslavsky, G., Stern, R.A., and Gingras, M.K. (2012). Bilaterian burrows and grazing behavior at >585 million years ago. Science v.336, 1693-1696.
• Zurevinski, S.E., Heaman, L.M., and Creaser, R.A. (2011). The origin of Triassic/Jurassic kimberlite magmatism, Canada: Two mantle sources from the Sr-Nd isotopic composition of groundmass perovskite. Geochemistry, Geophysics and Geosystems 12, Q09005, doi:10.1029/2011GC003659
• de Assis Janasi, V., Azor de Freitas,V., and Heaman, L.M. (2011). The onset of Flood Basalt Volcanism, Northern Paraná Basin, Brazil: A Precise U-Pb Baddeleyite/Zircon Age for a Chapecó-Type Dacite. Earth and Planetary Science Letters v.302, 147-153.
• Fassett, J.E., Heaman, L.M., and Simonetti, A. (2011). Direct U-Pb dating of Cretaceous and Paleocene Dinosaur Bones, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Geology v.39, 159-162.
• Heaman, L.M. and Pearson, D.G. (2010). Nature and evolution of the Slave Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle.  Lithoprobe Synthesis Volume II – Parameters, Processes and the Evolution of a Continent. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences v.47, 369-388.