VizualAge: A Novel Approach to Laser Ablation ICP‐MS U‐Pb Geochronology Data Reduction

VizualAge, a new computer software tool for analysing U‐Pb data obtained by laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry, was developed. It consists of a data reduction scheme (DRS) for Iolite (a general mass spectrometry data analysis tool) as well as visualisation routines. In addition to the U/Pb and Th/Pb ages calculated by Iolite’s U‐Pb geochronology DRS, VizualAge also calculates 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages and common Pb corrections for each time‐slice of raw data. Importantly, VizualAge allows one to display a live concordia diagram for visualising data on such a diagram as an integration interval is being adjusted. This provides instantaneous feedback regarding discordance, uncertainty, error…