Gas release systematics of mineral-hosted fluid inclusions during stepwise crushing: implications for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of hydrothermal fluids

40Ar/39Ar stepwise crushing technique has become more important for dating hydrothermal fluids trapped in mineral-hosted fluid inclusions. However, understanding the gas release patterns and interpreting the 40Ar/39Ar dating results have remained challenging. Here we use 40Ar/39Ar analyses coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) analyses of gases released by stepwise crushing to reconstruct the hydrothermal activities recorded by fluid...