Th/U ratios in metamorphic zircon

The Th/U ratios of zircon crystals are routinely used to help understand their growth mechanism. Despite the wide application of Th/U ratios in understanding the geological significance of zircon U–Pb ages, the main controls on the Th/U ratio in metamorphic zircon are poorly understood. Here, phase equilibria modelling coupled with solubility expressions for accessory minerals are used to investigate the controls on the Th/U ratios of suprasolidus metamorphic zircon in an average amphibolite facies metapelite composition. We also present a new database of metamorphic Th/U ratios in zircon from Western Australia. Several factors affecting the Th/U ratio are investigated, including the bulk rock concentrations of Th and U, the amount of monazite in the system, and open v. closed system behaviour. Our modelling predicts that the main controls on the Th/U ratio of suprasolidus metamorphic zircon are the concentrations of Th and U in the system, and the breakdown and growth of monazite in equilibrium with zircon. Furthermore, the relative timing of zircon and monazite growth during cooling and melt crystallization has an important role in the Th/U ratio of zircon. Early grown zircon near the peak of metamorphism is expected to have elevated Th/U ratios whereas zircon that grew near the solidus is predicted to have relatively low Th/U ratios, which reflects the coeval growth of monazite during cooling and melt crystallization. Our modelling approach aims to provide an improved understanding of the main controls of Th/U in metamorphic zircon in migmatites and hence better apply this geochemical ratio as a tool to assist in interpretation of the genesis of metamorphic zircon.     

Host rock compositional controls on zircon trace element signatures in metabasites from the Austroalpine basement

Zircon populations of Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic age occur in metabasites of a high-pressure amphibolite-facies unit of the Austroalpine basement south of the Tauern Window. The host rocks for these zircons are eclogitic amphibolites of N-MORB-type character, hornblende gneisses with volcanic-arc basalt signature, and alkaline within-plate-basalt amphibolites. Bulk rock magmatic trace element patterns were preserved during amphibolite-facies high-pressure and subsequent high-temperature events, as well as a greenschist-facies overprint. Positive Ce and negative Eu anomalies and enrichment of HREE in normalized zircon REE patterns, as analysed by LA-ICP-MS, are typical for an igneous origin of these zircon suites. Zircon Y is well correlated to HREE, Ce, Th, U, Nb, and Ta and allows discrimination of compositional fields for each host rock type. Low Th/U ratios are correlated to low Y and HREE abundances in zircon from low bulk Th/U host rocks. This is likely a primary igneous characteristic that cannot be attributed to metamorphic recrystallization. Variations of zircon/host rock element ratios confirm that ionic radii and charges control abundances of many trace elements in zircon. The trace element ratios—presented as mineral/melt distribution coefficients—indicate a selectively inhibited substitution of Zr and Si by HREE and Y in zircon which crystallized from a N-MORB melt. Correlated host rock and zircon trace element concentrations indicate that the metabasite zircons are not xenocrysts but crystallized from mafic melts, represented by the actual host rocks.     

Interaction between mafic and felsic magmas in subvolcanic environment (Tastau igneous complex,eastern Kazakhstan)

The paper reports the results of integrated geological, petrological, geochemical, and geochronological studies of the Tastau igneous ring complex in the Zaisan orogen of eastern Kazakhstan. Interaction between felsic and mafic magmas has been studied. Hybrid rocks are represented by gabbros and diorites injected into a granitic magma chamber. They occur as dikes and pillow-like and globular mafic bodies variously disintegrated and mixed with host granitoids. The age of synplutonic rocks is 242 ± 20 Ma (U/Pb zircon dating), which is, with regard to analytical error, substantially younger than it was presumed.Mechanisms of interaction between felsic and mafic magmas have been studied. They include mechanical (mingling) and chemical (mixing) interaction, which produce composite mixtures and hybrid rocks. The ratios of mafic to felsic components involved in the formation of intermediate rocks were calculated from major elements by regression analysis and tested with regard to rare and trace elements. The model for mingling includes rapid quenching of the mafic melt when it is injected into the granitic magma chamber, decomposition of crystalline fragments, dispersion of fragments and crystals in the magma chamber under conditions of rapid turbulent flow, and enrichment of felsic magma with femic components to produce monzonitic magmas.     

Geochemistry of Palaeoproterozoic volcanic rocks of the Iricoumé Group,Pitinga Mining District,Amazonian craton,Brazil

The Iricoumé Group includes 1.88 Ga volcanic units of the Iricoumé–Mapuera volcano-plutonic association, part of the Uatumã magmatic series in the Guyana shield portion of the Amazonian craton. In the Pitinga Mining District, these rocks consist dominantly of felsic trachyte to rhyolite, associated with voluminous ignimbrite and minor ash-fall tuffs and surge deposits. Mafic rocks are present as basaltic clasts within volcanic breccias, and mostly as mafic microgranular enclaves in the associated Mapuera plutonic rocks. The felsic rocks have high contents of SiO₂, FeO_t, K₂O, Rb, and alkalis; low TiO₂, CaO, Sr, Ba, Nb, Ta, and Eu; and show metaluminous to weakly peraluminous bulk-rock compositions. They exhibit alkaline geochemical features, expressed by Na₂O?+?K₂O averages of 8.8 wt.%, FeO_t/(FeO_t?+?MgO) ≥ 0.8, and high Ga/Al ratios, compatible with A-type magmas. The studied samples plot in the field of within-plate or post-collisional rocks in a (Nb?+?Y) versus Rb diagram. Nb/Y ratios indicate that they are comparable to A2-type rocks which, allied with their high LREE/Nb ratios, suggest that they were produced from mantle sources modified by previous subduction in a post-collisional setting. Two compositional populations of Ca-amphibole, a Mg-rich (actinolite to Mg-hornblende) and a Fe-rich one (Fe-edenite to Fe-pargasite, Fe-hornblende and Fe-actinolite), characterize the Iricoumé Group volcanics. The Fe-rich amphiboles crystallized under lower fO₂ and higher pressure conditions compared with the Mg-rich amphiboles, indicating different levels of crystallization or re-equilibration during ascent of the magmas. Zircons from rhyolites show trace-element compositions typical of magmatic crystals with high Th/U ratios, and REE patterns compatible with zircon-melt partition coefficients for silicic magma compositions. Their relatively lower zircon/rock partition coefficients are due to early apatite crystallization. Fractional crystallization mainly of plagioclase-hornblende and biotite-alkali feldspar with minor amounts of apatite explains the geochemical trends observed in the felsic Iricoumé volcanic rocks.     

吉南天桥地区基性岩墙与其围岩TTG片麻岩的成因及构造意义

吉南地区太古宙基底中发育大量早前寒武纪基性岩墙群,是陆壳伸展的直接证据。对白山市东部天桥太古宙基底出露区内基性岩墙及其围岩进行了锆石U-Pb定年和地球化学分析,以确定该期伸展事件的形成机制及地质意义。天桥地区基性岩墙岩性为斜长角闪岩,侵位于TTG片麻岩中。英云闪长质片麻岩(TN1)中锆石具核-边结构,岩浆核的LA-ICP-MS测年结果为2500±6Ma,指示其形成于新太古代末期。天桥岩墙(TN3)中的锆石内部结构与TN1相同,酸性岩浆核的SHRIMP测年结果为2490±17Ma,与TN1在误差范围内一致,表明这些锆石不是基性岩墙原生锆石,而是岩墙侵位过程中在围岩中捕获的锆石,但根据岩墙仅侵位在太古宙基底中且变质程度高于周围古元古界老岭群,将其侵位年龄大致限制在新太古代末期-古元古代早期。地球化学特征显示,基性岩墙具有低SiO_2、Na_2O、K_2O含量,高CaO、MgO含量,A/CNK=0.56～0.59,属于准铝质的拉斑玄武岩系列岩石,∑REE低、配分曲线平坦,富集LILE(Rb、Ba和K),亏损HFSE(Th、U、Nb和Ta),具有与原始地幔相同的Nb/Ta、Zr/Hf比值及接近地壳的Nb/U、Ta/U比值,指示其岩浆可能来源于地幔且在上升过程中受到地壳混染,形成于板内伸展环境。TTG片麻岩具有中等的SiO_2和MgO含量,高Al_2O_3和Na_2O含量以及低CaO含量,A/CNK=1.00～1.14,属弱过铝质的钙碱性系列岩石,∑REE低、具有右倾的REE配分曲线,轻稀土富集、重稀土亏损,富集LILE(Rb、Ba、K和Sr),强烈亏损HFSE(U、Nb、Ta、Sm和Ti),其岩浆可能来源于变质玄武质岩石和极少量沉积岩的部分熔融,结合邻区TTG的研究成果,认为其形成于与俯冲相关的活动大陆边缘环境。前人研究表明,新太古代晚期板块构造体制可能已经启动,结合我们以往研究,认为新太古代晚期华北克拉通东北部可能发生了弧陆碰撞造山运动,天桥岩墙的侵位标志着新太古代末期至古元古代早期之间华北克拉通东北部进入造山后伸展环境,可能是对新太古代造山运动结束的响应。     

石鼓-黎明地区变沉积岩系的深熔时代和物源

以出露于石鼓-黎明地区的黑云母石英片岩及其深熔脉体为重点研究对象,对其中的锆石进行了阴极发光图像分析、SHRIMP和LA-ICP-MS U-Pb年代学研究。阴极发光图像显示,黑云母石英片岩中大部分锆石保留清晰的振荡环带;深熔脉体中大部分锆石具有核-边结构,核部保留清晰的振荡环带或呈灰色无分带结构,边部较窄呈黑色。对黑云母石英片岩及其深熔脉体中锆石核部进行定年,得到年龄范围为2 637～743 Ma,具有858～852 Ma的主要年龄峰值,表明其主要物质来源为扬子板块西缘新元古代岩浆岩,同时也有太古代-古元古代基底岩石的加入,沉积时代应晚于852 Ma。深熔脉体锆石边部的Th/U值较小(0. 1),得到206Pb/238U年龄变化于225～197 Ma之间,可能代表了变沉积岩的变质-深熔时代,该年龄与金沙江-点苍山-哀牢山变质带二叠纪-三叠纪变质事件的时代相一致。     

U–Pb Ages for Zircon Grains from Nsanaragati Alluvial Gem Placers: Its Correlation to the Source Rocks

The Mamfe Basin is located in the SW of Cameroon and is an extension of the much bigger Benue Trough in the SE of Nigeria. Along the Asenem River and its tributaries in the western part of the Mamfe Basin (close to the border with Nigeria) gem placers yielding big zircon grains were found in recent river sediments close to Nsanaragati. In order to determine the source area and to establish a possible correlation between the zircons found in the Nsanaragati placers and rocks surrounding the Mamfe Basin 56 detrital zircon grains were analysed regarding their U–Pb ages and selected trace element contents by LA‐ICP–MS techniques. Possible source areas are rocks from the Benue Trough in the West and from the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) in the SE of the study area. Based on microscopic analyses it was possible to distinguish two groups of zircons: reddish and non‐reddish ones, where the latter group comprises color variations from brown to orange, yellow to even colorless. In general, the detrital zircons show high hafnium values (4576 to 12565 ppm) and very variable thorium (7.8 to 1565 ppm) and uranium values (13.4 to 687 ppm). The Th/U ratios vary from 0.4 to 2.3, allowing correlations for some zircon grains to kimberlitic, granitic or syenitic affinities. It was also possible to distinguish zircon grains crystallised in mafic mantle‐derived melts from those crystallised in felsic melts, e.g. from continental rift‐related magmatic systems. In general, the U–Pb zircon ages obtained range from 11.7 to 1949 Ma. All zircons of the reddish group yielded almost similar ages resulting in a Concordia age of 12.4 Ma (Serravallian), an age unknown from the Mamfe Basin so far. The group of non‐reddish zircons showed various ages ranging from Serravallian to Orosirian. It was possible to correlate the youngest ages with rocks known from intrusions along the CVL, dated with K/Ar or Ar/Ar methods. The most probable sources were Mount Bamenda and Mount Bambouto in the east of the Mamfe Basin. Cretaceous ages are interpreted as re‐recycled clastic sediments whose original source had been rocks in the south and the north of the Benue Trough and who had been eroded and deposited within the catchment area of the Asenem river system in the Mamfe Basin in post‐Cretaceous times. The oldest ages are assumed to represent the pan‐African and pre‐pan‐African basement of the Mamfe basin.     

U–Pb geochronology and Raman spectroscopy of zircons from the granites in the Xihuashan and Tieshanlong Deposit: Implications for W‐Sn mineralization in Southern Jiangxi Province,South China

The Xihuashan and Tieshanlong tungsten deposit is an important large quartz vein‐type W‐polymetallic deposit in the southern Jiangxi Province, eastern Nanling Range. Zircon U–Pb analyses of representative ore‐forming granites from the Xihuashan and Tieshanlong tungsten deposit yield ages of 146.3 ± 2.9 Ma and 146.0 ± 3.8 Ma, respectively. According to the zircon Raman spectroscopy, these granitic rocks are disturbed by different degrees of hydrothermal alteration, whereas most zircons exhibit primary oscillatory zoning and Th/U ratios in the range of magmatic zircon, which means the analysis results represent the crystallization age of metallogenetic granitic assemblages. In combination with regional geological data, it is suggested that the Late Jurassic is probably another important episode of granitic magmatism and W‐Sn mineralization in southern Jiangxi Provinces, even South China.     

东昆仑东段香加南山花岗岩基中加鲁河中基性岩体形成时代、成因及其地质意义

东昆仑东段香加南山花岗岩基中加鲁河中基性岩体主要岩石类型包括角闪辉长岩和石英闪长岩。LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素定年结果显示加鲁河中基性岩体的结晶年龄为220 Ma。岩体SiO_2含量较低,为47.91%~58.92%,Al_2O_3含量为15.54%~18.35%,Na2O为1.70%~3.34%,K_2O为0.58%~1.92%,Na_2O/K_2O比值为1.34~2.93,平均1.92,MgO含量为3.69%~8.24%,Mg~#为46~61,铝饱和指数A/CNK介于0.70~0.90之间,主体属于准铝质中钾钙碱性系列。岩体富集轻稀土元素,亏损重稀土元素,具明显的Eu负异常(δEu=0.40~0.59);微量元素富集Rb、Th、Ba等大离子亲石元素(LILE),亏损Nb、Ta、Ti等高场强元素(HFSE)。岩石学和地球化学研究显示岩体在地壳深部和浅部经历了两次岩浆混合作用。在深部,幔源岩浆底侵作用使下地壳部分熔融形成长英质岩浆,两种岩浆不同比例混合,经过化学扩散均一化,从而具有相似的同位素特征和岩石地球化学特征。在地壳浅部,经深部混合的岩浆注入花岗质岩浆,岩浆边部同花岗岩完全混合形成加鲁河岩体中石英闪长岩,不完全混合则形成暗色微粒包体。对加鲁河中基性岩体研究表明,东昆仑东段在晚三叠世处于古特提斯演化的后碰撞阶段,在这一时期存在岩浆底侵事件。     

Magmatic-to-hydrothermal crystallization in the W–Sn mineralized Mole Granite (NSW, Australia): Part II: Evolving zircon and thorite trace element chemistry

The Sn–W mineralized Mole Granite in Eastern Australia hosts zircon populations that crystallized at several stages during a protracted magmatic to hydrothermal evolution. Thirty-four elements have been quantified by laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometric microanalysis with the aim of relating the chemistry of zircon to its growth environment. Trace element contents are highly variable for all textural occurrences. Zircon inclusions in earliest quartz phenocryst suggest that zircon was a liquidus phase that crystallized probably deep in the crust. Trace element contents are conspicuously high, showing only a slight positive Ce anomaly but a pronounced negative Eu-anomaly. Successive crystallization stages of magmatic zircon are characterized by progressive depletion in trace element contents, notably the rare earth elements, with an increasingly important positive Ce-anomaly. This evolution reflects saturation of REE accepting minerals such as monazite, thorite, xenotime and possibly apatite and is affected little by the exsolution of a magmatic–hydrothermal fluid. Zircon that is interpreted to have precipitated from aqueous fluids in Sn–W-bearing quartz veins shows REE patterns indistinguishable from those of late magmatic zircon. When combined with experimental evidence on the fluid–melt partitioning of REE, it indicates that the REE distribution coefficients for zircon/melt and zircon/fluid are largely comparable.

The second example of hydrothermal zircon crystallized some 2 My after the host granite. These crystals reveal an intragranular zonation of increasing trace element concentrations from core to rim. Therefore, REE abundances and patterns alone are not conclusive indicators of the geological environment in which zircon crystallized. Nevertheless, variations in trace element contents of zircon that relate to the chemistry of the melt or fluid from which zircon crystallized, as measured in cogenetic melt and fluid inclusions, are promising for future petrogenetic modeling.

Lead and Cs are strongly incompatible in hydrothermal zircon, with estimated zircon–fluid distribution coefficients D ≤ 0.001, while Sn and Li are moderately incompatible, D_Sn  0.6 and D_Li  0.1, and Ce is compatible, D_Ce  14. Moreover, hydrothermal zircon has a more pronounced negative Eu-anomaly and higher Ta/Nb and U/Th ratios than the magmatic zircons of the Mole Granite.     

Coexistence of a Fluid Phase with Granitic Magma: Geochemical Characteristics of REE and Cu in Miyako Granite and in Scheelite-bearing Aplitic Veins at the Yamaguchi Cu-W Skarn Deposit, Iwate, Japan

Abstract: The North granitic body of the Miyako pluton is located in the Northern Kitakami belt, Northeast Japan. The formation of the scheelite–chalcopyrite–magnetite–bearing aplitic veins and scheelite–chalcopyrite–magnetite–bearing Yamaguchi skarn deposit was closely associated with the formation of the Miyako plutons. Petrographic facies of the North granitic body vary from quartz diorite in marginal zone (zone A), to tonalite and granodiorite (zone B), and to granite (zone C) in the central. The large numbers of aplitic veins distributed around the Yamaguchi mining area are divided into two groups: barren and scheelite–mag–netite–chalcopyrite–bearing aplitic veins. The latter cut massive clinopyroxene skarns of the Yamaguchi deposit, and are composed of plagioclase, K‐feldspar and titanite. Some plagioclase crystals have dusty cores with irregularly shaped K‐feldspar flakes, and clear rims of albite. Textures of plagioclase in the mineralized aplitic veins are different from the idiomorphic textures with sharp plagioclase crystal boundaries that occur in the North granitic body and barren aplitic veins. These textural data suggest that the mineralized aplitic veins were formed from hydrothermal fluid. Changes in the contents of major and minor (Rb, Sr, Sc, Co, Th, U) elements in the North Miyako granitic body are similar to those of zoned plutons formed by typical magmatic differentiation processes. On the other hand, concentrations of REE, especially middle to heavy REE, of granitic rocks in zone C and barren aplitic veins are significantly lower than those of granitic rocks in zones A and B. The hypothetical chondrite‐normalized REE patterns, calculated assuming fractional crystallization from zone B granitic melt, suggest that REE concentrations of the residual melt increased with the degree of fractional crystallization, and changed into a pattern with enriched LREE and strongly negative Eu anomaly. However, the REE patterns of granitic rocks in zone C are different from the hypothetical patterns. Moreover, the REE patterns of magnetite–scheelite–chalcopyrite aplitic veins are quite different from those of granitic rocks. The Cu contents of granitic rocks in the North Miyako body increase from zone A (5–26 ppm) to zone B (10–26 ppm), and then clearly decrease to zone C (5–7 ppm) and drastically increase to the barren aplitic veins (39–235 ppm). Concentrations of Cu in the mineralized aplitic veins are also higher than those of the granitic rocks in zone C. The decrease in REE and Cu contents of granitic rocks from zone B to zone C is not a result of simple magmatic fractional differentiation. Fluid inclusions in quartz from mineralized aplitic veins contain 3.3 wt% NaCl equivalent and 5.8 wt% CO₂. It was also demonstrated experimentally that the removal of MREE and HREE by fluid from melt enabled the formation of complexes of REE and ligands of OH^‐ and CO₃^2‐. Based on the possibility that the melt of the granitic rocks of zone C and the mineralized aplitic veins coexisted with CO₂‐bearing fluid, it is thought that REE were extracted from the melt to the CO₂‐bearing fluid, and that the REE in the mineralized aplitic veins were transported by the CO₂‐bearing fluid. It is likely that the low HREE and Cu contents of the granitic rocks in zone C could have been caused by the removal of those elements from the granitic melt by the fluid coexisting with the melt. The expelled materials could have been the sources of scheelite–magnetite–chalcopyrite–bearing aplitic veins and copper mineralization of the Yamaguchi Cu‐W skarn deposit.     

SHRIMP Dating and Recrystallization of Metamorphic Zircons from a Granitic Gneiss in the Sulu UHP Terrane

An unusual zircon SHRIMP dating result of a granitic gneiss from the Qinglongshan eclogite-gneiss roadcut section is presented in this paper. The very peculiar and complicated internal structures, as well as the very low Th/U ratios (0.01-0.08) of the zircons indicate that they were formed by metamorphic recrystallization. Strongly in contrast with previously published zircon U-Pb ages of the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic rocks where protolith ages of 600-800 Ma are commonly recorded, only metamorphic age of 218±5 Ma, defined by 18 analytical spots either in rim or in core of zircons, are recorded in this granitic gneiss. This age represents the time of the complete metamorphic recrystallization overprint on primary magmatic zircons. The recrystallization was derived by the UHP metamorphism, and was strengthened by the early stage of retrograde metamorphic fluid activity.     

U-Pb zircon dating of the lunar meteorite Dhofar 1442

Dhofar 1442 is one of the few lunar KREEP-rich meteorites, which contains KREEP norites and KREEP gabbronorite as well as low-Ti basalts and highly evolved granophyres. Zircon is a typical accessory mineral of KREEP rocks. U-Th-Pb dates of 12 zircon grains (four of them were in two lithic clasts, and the others were fragments in the meteorite matrix) indicate that the zircons belong to at least two groups of different age: “ancient” (～4.31 Ga) and “young” (～3.95 Ga), which correspond to two major pulses of KREEP magmatism in the source region of the Dhofar 1442 meteorite. The zircon of the “young” group was most probably related to the crater ejecta of the Mare Imbrium Basin. The rock fragments dated at approximately 3.95 Ga have the composition of KREEP gabbronorite. The parental rocks of the zircon of the “ancient” group in the Dhofar 1442 meteorite are uncertain and could be highly evolved granophyres. This hypothesis is supported by the high Th (100–300 ppm) and U (150–400 ppm) contents. These zircon fragments of the “ancient” group, higher than in the “young” group (<50 ppm Th and <70 ppm U) and are typical of zircon from lunar granitic rocks. The composition of the products of KREEP magmatism in the source region of the Dhofar 1442 meteorite could vary from predominantly granitic to KREEP gabbronoritic at 4.3–3.9 Ga.     

地球深部真的贫铀钍吗? ——来自秦岭造山带加里东期岩浆岩体锆石铀钍含量的讨论

为尝试利用锆石来初步探索地球内部铀、钍的丰度,通过搜集秦岭造山带加里东期岩浆岩体锆石U-Th-Pb同位素测年文献,掌握了3件超基性岩、52件基性岩、46件中性岩、90件酸性岩,共计191件样品,6979个（铀含量数据3552个,钍含量数据3427个）锆石定年数据。数据分析指示铀和钍在同一类型岩浆岩锆石中含量均相差悬殊,可在不同类型岩浆岩锆石中富集或亏损,不具有从超基性岩到基性岩到中性岩再到酸性岩总体增加的趋势。在所有样品锆石铀、钍平均值2倍以上的45件高富集样品中的34件呈现“局部长期”分布的特征,表现为：10件在451.0~422.1 Ma期间的以OIB型基性、中基性岩为主的样品约29 Ma时间集中产出在南秦岭大巴山地区,岩浆多来自由HIMU,EMII和EMI三个富集地幔端元组分混合而成的复杂地幔区;24件在495.9~413.6 Ma期间的以I型、S-I型酸性岩为主的样品约82 Ma时间集中产出于北秦岭商丹（商南—丹凤）地区,岩浆可来自地幔、壳幔混合和地壳源区。结合华南金属铀（0价）的发现等前人研究成果初步分析认为,加里东期大巴山和商丹地区可能分别存在地幔柱和大陆型热点,地核中大量铀、钍沿地幔柱和大陆型热点上升致使地幔和地壳局部熔体中铀、钍长期富集,其超高含量可能被熔体中锆石结晶部分记录,这一元素迁移过程可能是两区域产出高锆石铀、钍含量样品和商丹地区生成铀矿的主要原因。支持铀、钍可在地核和地幔柱富集的认识。     

藏东类乌齐地区花岗质片麻岩锆石Cameca U-Pb定年及其地质意义

西藏东部类乌齐一带吉塘岩群中新识别出一套花岗质片麻岩。花岗质片麻岩中锆石Th/U比值较高(Th/U0.49),阴极发光图像显示锆石内部韵律环带明显,具典型岩浆锆石成因的特征。Cameca锆石U-Pb同位素加权平均年龄为282.1Ma±0.9Ma,表明花岗岩岩体形成于早二叠世,暗示澜沧江结合带在早二叠世存在岩浆增生事件。     

Unusual Uranium‐rich Fluid Flow During Exhumation of Deeply Subducted Continental Crust

In‐situ SIMS analyses of O and U‐Pb isotopes were carried out for zircons from a quartz vein hosted by ultrahigh‐pressure metagranite (UHP) in the Dabie orogen. The results are integrated to decipher the property of unusual U‐rich aqueous fluids and their effects on both metamorphic and magmatic zircons during exhumation of the UHP metagranite. In CL images, most zircon grains show distinct core‐rim structures. Relict cores are bright and exhibit oscillatory or patchy zonation, giving Neoproterozoic upper‐intercept ages of 795 ± 26 Ma. Newly grown rims are dark and exhibit no zoning, yielding Triassic concordant ages of 215 ± 5 Ma. The cores give Th contents of 59 to 463 ppm and U contents of 98 to 558 ppm, with Th/U ratios of 0.263 to 1.423. The rims yield reduced Th contents of 11 to 124 ppm but significantly elevated U contents of 1051 to 3531 ppm, with Th/U ratios of 0.010 to 0.035. Comparison with the cores of magmatic origin, the unusual enrichment in U but depletion in Th in the rims of metamorphic origin are interpreted as zircon growth from Cl‐rich oxidized vein‐forming aqueous fluids that were produced by dehydration reactions of the wallrock during continental exhumation. The cores have variably positive δ¹⁸O values with concordant or discordant Neoproterozoic U‐Pb ages, suggesting their solid‐state modification of both O and U‐Pb isotopes through interaction with the fluids. The rims yield negative δ¹⁸O values, indicating their growth from the negative δ¹⁸O fluids. Taken together, the proposed Cl‐rich oxidized negative‐δ¹⁸O vein‐forming aqueous fluids have such an ability to not only cause variable metamorphic recrystallization in the relict magmatic zircons but also produce dramatic fractionation of U over Th in the metamorphic zircons during quartz veining, and potentially impact on the overlain metasomatite in the mantle wedge.     

Behavior of accessory phases and redistribution of Zr,REE, Y,Th, and U during metamorphism and partial melting of metapelites in the lower crust: an example from the Kinzigite Formation of Ivrea-Verbano,NW Italy

This study is aimed at understanding the behavior of monazite, xenotime, apatite and zircon, and the redistribution of Zr, REE, Y, Th, and U among melt, rock-forming and accessory phases in a prograde metamorphic sequence, the Kinzigite Formation of Ivrea-Verbano, NW Italy, that may represent a section from the middle to lower continental crust. Metamorphism ranges from middle amphibolite to granulite facies and metapelites show evidence of intense partial melting and melt extraction. The appearance of melt controls the grain size, fraction of inclusions and redistribution of REE, Y, Th, and U among accessories and major minerals. The textural evolution of zircon and monazite follows, in general, the model of Watson et al. (1989). Apatite is extracted from the system dissolved into partial melts. Xenotime is consumed in garnet-forming reactions and is the first source for the elevated Y and HREE contents of garnet. Once xenotime is exhausted, monazite, apatite, zircon, K-feldspar, and plagioclase are progressively depleted in Y, HREE, and MREE as the modal abundance of garnet increases. Monazite is severely affected by two retrograde reactions, which may have consequences for U-Pb dating of this mineral. Granulite-grade metapelites (stronalites) are significantly richer in Ti, Al, Fe, Mg, Sc, V, Cr, Zn, Y, and HREE, and poorer in Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Tl, U, and P, but have roughly the same average concentration of Cu, Sr, Pb, Zr, Ba, LREE, and Th as amphibolite-grade metapelites (kinzigites). The kinzigite-stronalite transition is marked by the sudden change of Th/U from 5–6 to 14–15, the progressive increase of Nb/Ta, and the decoupling of Ho from Y. Leucosomes were saturated in zircon, apatite, and (except at the lowest degree of partial melting) monazite. Their REE patterns, especially the magnitude of the Eu anomaly, depend on the relative proportion of feldspars and monazite incorporated into the melt. The presence of monazite in the source causes an excellent correlation of LREE and Th, with nearly constant Nd/Th ≈ 2.5–3. The U depletion and increase in Th/U characteristic of granulite facies only happens in monazite-bearing rocks. It is attributed to enhancement of the U partitioning in the melt due to elevated Cl activity followed by the release of a Cl-rich F-poor aqueous fluid at the end of the crystallization of leucosomes. Halide activity in partial melts was buffered by monazite and apatite. Since the U (and K) depletion does not substantially affect the heat-production of metapelites, and mafic granulites maintain similar Th/U and abundance of U and Th as their unmetamorphosed equivalents, it seems that geochemical changes associated to granulitization have only a minor influence on heat-production in the lower crust.     

花岗岩中锆石的韵律环带结构研究

花岗岩中锆石的电子荧光观察和微量元素分析表明,锆石中的韵律环带结构主要是以较宽的浅灰色条带与较窄的灰黑色条带交替重复出现而形成的。相应于条带灰度的变化,呈负相关性的锆与呈正相关性的铀的含量亦在起伏变化。由于锆石中铀与锆的类置同象置换是非常有限的,锆石中铀含量的变化主要取决于铀的分配系数的变化。因此,当含铀锆石的结晶过程处于非理想体系时,它以固溶体相变的形式来协调固液界面的局部体系与整个花岗质熔体的热力学平衡,从而形成含铀锆石的两种固溶体相交替生长的韵律环带结构。     

Petrological and zircon evidence for the Early Cretaceous granulite‐facies metamorphism in the Dabie orogen,China

An integrated study of petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and geochronology was carried out for contemporaneous mafic granulite and diorite from the Dabie orogen. The results provide evidence for granulite‐facies reworking of the ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphic rock in the collisional orogen. Most zircons from the granulite are new growth, and their U‐Pb ages are clearly categorized into two groups at 122–127 Ma and 188.2 Ma. Although these two groups of zircons show similarly steep HREE patterns and variably negative Eu anomalies, the younger group has much higher U, Th and REE contents and Th/U ratios, much lower εHf(t) values than the older group. This suggests their growth is associated with different types of dehydration reactions. The older zircon domains contain mineral inclusions of Grt, Cpx and Qz, indicating their growth through metamorphic reactions at high pressures. In contrast, the young zircon domains would have grown through peritectic reaction at low to medium pressures. The younger granulite‐facies metamorphic age is in agreement not only with the adjacent diorite at 125.1 Ma in this study but also the voluminous emplacement of coeval mafic and felsic magmas in the Dabie orogen. Mineral separates from both mafic granulite and its adjacent diorite show uniformly lower δ18O values than normal mantle, similar to those for UHP eclogite‐facies metaigneous rocks in the Dabie orogen. In combination with major‐trace elements and zircon Lu‐Hf isotope compositions, it is inferred that the protolith of mafic granulites shares with the source rock of diorites, both being a kind of mafic metasomatites at the slab‐mantle interface in the continental subduction channel. This provides a direct link in petrogenesis between the granulitic, migmatic and magmatic rocks in the collisional orogen to active continental rifting, whereby high heat flow was transferred from the asthenospheric mantle into the thinned orogenic lithosphere for partia melting.     

Zircon U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotopic constraints on the petrogenesis of Early Triassic granites in the Wulonggou area of the Eastern Kunlun Orogen,Northwest China

Widespread granitic intrusions in the northeast part of the Wulonggou area were previously thought to be emplaced into the Palaeoproterozoic Jinshuikou Group during the Neoproterozoic. This contribution presents detailed LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb geochronology, major and trace element geochemistry, and zircon Hf isotope systematic on the Wulonggou Granodiorite and Xiaoyakou Granite from the Wulonggou area. Three granodiorite samples yielded U–Pb zircon ages of 247 ± 2, 248 ± 1, and 249 ± 1 Ma, and one granite sample yielded U–Pb zircon age of 246 ± 3 Ma. The granodiorite samples are metaluminous with an alumina saturation index of 0.90–0.96, as well as intermediate- to high-alkali contents of 5.49–6.14 wt.%, and low Zr+Nb+Ce+Y contents, and low Fe₂O_3T/MgO ratios, which suggest an I-type classical island arc magmatic source. The granite samples are peraluminous with an alumina saturation index of 1.02–1.03, Sr content of 305.00–374.00 ppm, Sr/Y ratios of between 17.68 and 28.77, (La/Yb)_N values of 16.98–25.07, low HREEs (Yb = 1.10–2.00 ppm), and low Y (13.00–21.10 ppm), which suggest adakite-like rocks. All granodiorite samples have zircons ε_Hf(t) values ranging from ?2.9 to +3.9, and granite samples have zircon ε_Hf(t) values ranging from ?7.8 to +3.2. These Hf isotopic data suggest that the Early Triassic granites were derived from the partial melting of a mafic Mesoproterozoic lower crust, although the degree of ancient crustal assimilation may be higher for the Xiaoyakou Granite. It is suggested here that the ca. 246–248 Ma magma was generated during the northward subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys oceanic plate.