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Contrasting geochemistry of magmatic and secondary zircons

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Abstract

The intensity of the redistribution of trace elements in zircons significantly varies depending on the types of secondary processes affecting the magmatic rocks. The Neoarchean alkaline granites of the Keivy structure in the Kola Peninsula are employed as an illustrative example of differences in the variation dynamics of the proportions of certain elements (REE, Th, U, Hf, and others) with the transition from the magmatic to metamorphic crystallization of zircons during Proterozoic amphibolite-facies metamorphism over-printed onto the rocks. Changes are detected in the proportions of LREE and HREE, in the Ce4+/Ce3+ and Th/U ratios, and in other incompatible elements. The data obtained by geochemically comparing the redistribution of certain elements and their pairs in zircons during amphibolite-facies metamorphism and Phanerozoic hydrothermal alteration (literature data) are used to gain insight into the genesis of detrital Hadean zircons. Certain similarities and remarkable differences are detected in the effects of Hadean processes and Phanerozoic-Precambrian magmatism and secondary recrystallization on the behavior of chemical elements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, Kola Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Fersmana 14, Apatity, Murmansk oblast, 184209, Russia

    Yu. A. Balashov

  2. Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology, Russian Academy of Sciences, nab. Makarova 2, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    S. G. Skublov

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  1. Yu. A. Balashov
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  2. S. G. Skublov
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Balashov.

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Original Russian Text © Yu.A. Balashov, S.G. Skublov, 2011, published in Geokhimiya, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 622–634.

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Balashov, Y.A., Skublov, S.G. Contrasting geochemistry of magmatic and secondary zircons. Geochem. Int. 49, 594–604 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702911040033

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