Various combinations of crystal age information and crystal-scale chemical or isotopic data can thus serve several purposes: first, the addition of other information can help interpret age data, and in particular can help distinguish antecrysts from xenocrysts and identify mixed crystal populations that may have distinct ages. Second, the addition of age information to studies involving thermometry (whether by using zircon saturation temperatures or Ti-in-zircon thermometry) can replace qualitative thermal histories of magmas with quantitative thermal histories. In cases where sub-crystal chemical information is also available, the thermal and chemical evolution of magmas can be quantified. Finally, in cases where isotopic and/or chemical disequilibrium between crystals and melts has been preserved, crystal ages and diffusion modeling can be combined to delimit the duration of crystal residence at high temperatures and/or within a given melt. Thus, the combination of crystal age information with other textural, chemical, and isotopic data represents one of the most promising pathways toward furthering our understanding of magma dynamics.
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