The WA Argon Isotope Facility is part of Curtin’s John de Laeter Centre. The 40Ar/39Ar dating method is used to measure the age and timing of a large variety of geological processes, from meteorite samples as old as the Earth (4.5 billion years) to the age of historical events such as the Vesuvius eruption (79 AD).
The Ar technique can be applied to any rocks and minerals that contain K (e.g. hornblende, sanidine, plagioclase and basalts). 40Ar/39Ar method is also used to date a myriad of other geological events such as volcanism, tectonic plate movements, mountain building rates, sediment formation, weathering and erosion, hydrothermal fluid movements and alteration and diagenesis of minerals.