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Mineral Indicators of Provenances for Rare-Metal–Titanium Placers of the Stavropol Arch: Zircon

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Abstract

A comprehensive study of the indicator properties of zircon from rare-metal–titanium placers of the Stavropol Arch (using the example of the most-explored Beshpagirskoe deposit) was performed using modern methods and approaches tested by scientists from different countries. Petrogenetic typing of zircon was carried out in accordance with the morphological and microanatomical patterns of the structure of grains and the geochronological and geochemical studies of the composition, as well as taking into account thermometry. The data obtained made possible to identify the main generations of zircon with a stable distribution of chondrite-normalized rare-earth elements and trace elements within the age groups. Based on this, a binding was made to the periods of important geodynamic events and associated mineral-forming processes in the Greater Caucasus. A relation between the composition, U–Pb dating of zircon from the Beshpagirskii deposit of rare-metal–titanium placers of the Stavropol Arch, and the composition of the provenance rocks in the catchment area of the paleo-Kuban and paleo-Zelenchuk rivers within the Bechasyn zone and the Peredovoi Ridge of the Greater Caucasus was established. This conclusion suggests a detailed evolutionary model for the formation of placers in the Stavropol Arch and demonstrated a relationship between the mineral composition of currently known placer sites and deposits and paleoriver alluvial fans rewashed in the shallow-water zone: Sinyukhinskii site (Middle Sarmatian)–paleo-Laba, paleo-Urup; Nevinnomyssk (Karaganian–Konkian) and Tashlinskii (Middle Sarmatian) sites–paleo-Zelenchuk, paleo-Kuban; Kalaus site (Chokrak) and Beshpagirsky deposit (Upper Sarmatian)–paleo-Kuban, paleo-Zelenchuks; the Gofitskoe and Kambulatskoe deposits (Upper Sarmatian)–rivers of a smaller order, located between the paleo-Kuban and paleo-Malka.

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Funding

This study was performed in accordance with a state order to the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. FMMN-2021-0005 № 121041500227-9.

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  1. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Chefranova & R. M. Chefranov

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  1. A. V. Chefranova
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Correspondence to A. V. Chefranova.

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Translated by A. Bobrov

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Chefranova, A.V., Chefranov, R.M. Mineral Indicators of Provenances for Rare-Metal–Titanium Placers of the Stavropol Arch: Zircon. Geol. Ore Deposits 64 (Suppl 1), 86–105 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701522090021

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