Ages obtained from three Tertiary ash-flow tuffs in central Nevada by fission-track and K-Ar dating are concordant. Samples dated by these methods from the same localities give the same age within the limits of analytical uncertainty. Samples of three units from widely separated localities were dated further to confirm the concordance of the dating methods and to establish that ages can be used, in conjunction with normal geologic techniques, as a criteria for correlation. The minerals dated by K-Ar were biotite and sanidine; and sphene zircon and apatite were used to determine the fission track ages.
The Bates Mountain Tuff was dated at 24.0 m.y. (F.T.) and 24.0 m.y. (K-Ar). The Fish Creek Mountains Tuff has a fission-track age of 24.4 m.y., and a K-Ar age of 23.9 m.y. The average fission-track age for the Caetano Tuff is 34.9 m.y., and it has an average K-Ar age of 32.3 m.y.
The amount of analytical uncertainty is slightly greater in the fission track method. Sampling, preparation, and determination of the age by the fission-track method is competitive with the K-Ar method.
