Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has a wide range of applications in Earth Science research, thanks to its high precision and sensitivity, and its capacity in direct insitu micromeasurement. The technique is operated in ultra‐high vacuum (UHV) conditions, especially for the measurement of volatiles such as hydrogen, or the water content in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs). To minimize the water background and obtain accurate and precise water contents in NAMs (eg, olivine) critical parameters such as presputtering time, field aperture (FA), dynamic transfer on/off, and primary beam current intensity were investigated for a CAMECA IMS 1280‐HR system. When the chamber vacuum reaches approximately 2 × 10−9 mbar, we set the DTOS OFF, raster size to 50 μm and primary beam current to 5 nA, and used 2000 μm FA and 170‐second presputtering time. Consequently, an approximately 1.2 ppmw water background and 3.6 ppmw limit of detection (LOD) were yielded, from analyzing the San Carlos olivine. Meanwhile, the water content and homogeneity of a range of olivine minerals were characterized for potential use as reference materials for SIMS water content measurement. Olivine water content calibration curve was also established by comparing the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results with the SIMS‐measured 16O1H−/16O− ratios. Accuracy and precision of water content measurement were estimated to be better than approximately 10% in this study.

The cover image is based on the Special Issue Article Optimization of SIMS analytical parameters for water content measurement of olivine by Wan‐Feng Zhang et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.6729.

Water is essential for the formation of granites, but its origin and role in granite generation (i.e., dehydration vs. water‐fluxed melting) remain uncertain. These issues are addressed by combining water abundances and other geochemical indices in zircons from Late Mesozoic granites generated during the destruction of the North China Craton (NCC). The water contents in zircons from the NCC Early Cretaceous granites (763 ppm, median) are much higher than those of the NCC Jurassic granites (424–513 ppm), upper mantle and continental arc magmas (92–477 ppm). More importantly, the higher water contents in the voluminous Early Cretaceous granites also have higher zircon saturation temperatures, εHf(t), and lower δ18O values. These observations suggest a predominantly mantle origin for the water, and water‐fluxed crustal melting, in which larger water ingression produced more voluminous melts. The high‐water flux was likely related to the subduction of the Paleo‐Pacific Plate, which ultimately destabilized the NCC.