Using a Gaussian mathematical model to define eruptive stages of young volcanic rocks in Tengchong based on laser 40Ar/39Ar dating

Reconstruction of Quaternary environments, late Cenozoic geodynamics and evaluation of volcanic hazards, all depend on the precise delineation of eruptive stages. In recent years, laser 40Ar/39Ar dating methods have been widely used for dating young volcanic rocks, given their stable automated testing process, very low background level and high sensitivity, which meet the requirements for precise dating of young samples. This paper applied high-precision laser 40Ar/39Ar dating to the main volcanic units in the Tengchong area and obtained ages in the range of 0.025–5.1 Ma using conventional data processing methods. However, conventional dating highlighted issues related to very low radiogenic 40Ar content, accidental errors and poor data stability, which led to huge age deviations. Moreover, lacking a unified timescale, conventional methods were unable to strictly define the stages of the Tengchong volcanic eruptions, leading to ongoing controversy. In this study, we applied a Gaussian mathematical model to deal with all 378 original ages from 13 samples. An apparent age-probability diagram, consisting of three independent waveforms, have been obtained. The corresponding isochron ages of these three waveforms suggest there were three volcanic eruptive stages, namely during the Pliocene (3.78±0.04 Ma), early Middle Pleistocene (0.63 ±0.03 Ma) and late Middle Pleistocene to early Late Pleistocene (0.139±0.005 Ma). These results accurately define eruptive stages in the Tengchong area.