Attachment - Statement of work 1

STATEMENT OF WORK

Detrital Zircon Geochronology using LA-MC-ICPMS
Section 1. General Information

A. Introduction

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geology, Energy, and Minerals Science Center (GEMSC), and Florence Bascom Geoscience Center (FBGC) in Reston, VA requires detrital zircon U/Pb, Hf, and T/REE analyses for rock and modern sediment samples. Samples will support scientific work across multiple projects, including, but not limited to, the Gulf of Mexico Petroleum Systems Project and the Alaska Petroleum Systems Project. U/Pb geochronology is increasingly a routine element of basin analysis, and ongoing USGS Energy Resources research campaigns have been designed, in part, on the basis of being able to generate and utilize this type of data. Data analyses have been conducted over the past 5 FY via a BPA with the Arizona LaserChron Center, and this PR seeks to continue that effort, which concluded in March of 2026.

B. Background

Detrital zircon U/Pb geochronology is a powerful provenance tool for fingerprinting sediment sources and defining maximum depositional ages. Furthermore, detrital zircon U/Pb ages can provide precise ages for deposits that otherwise have poor or no biostratigraphic age control. In addition, U/Pb provenance is particularly useful in study locations where multiple sediment source areas have similar lithologic composition but have distinguishable U/Pb age signatures. In areas with both similar lithologies and ages, additional zircon chemical information (Hf and T/REE) can be used together to elucidate provenance. In sedimentary basins, examining U/Pb age spectra from sediments allows one to characterize the relative contributions of different sediment source areas during basin filling. Furthermore, age spectra from several levels within a stratigraphic succession that spans several million years can define chronostratigraphy and track the evolving sediment source regions.

Section II. Work Requirements
Task 1: PWS: Given samples of sand and sandstone, the contractor shall conduct U-Pb geochronologic analysis for 100–300 zircons per sample. Upon request, the contractor may be asked to determine 600 or more analyses per sample in order to statistically characterize the entire detrital age population and/or screen for grains (zircons) that constrain the maximum depositional age of a sample.

Task 1 Standards:
Quality Standards: The contractor shall perform all U-Pb geochronologic analysis following the protocols outlined in Gehrels et al. (2006, 2008) and Sundell et al. (2020), and Hf