Constraining a SHRIMP U-Pb age: micro-scale characterization of zircons from Saxonian Rotliegend rhyolites

Abstract

We present results of a detailed investigation of zircons from two rhyolites from St. Egidien and Chemnitz, Saxony, using a combination of microprobe techniques (SHRIMP ion probe, Raman microprobe, SEM: SE, BSE, and CL imaging). These rhyolites belong to the so-called “lower volcanics”, which is the older of two series of Late Variscan volcanic rocks occurring in the Saxonian Sub-Erzgebirge basin (Germany). The purpose of the present contribution is to demonstrate that detailed characterization of zircons, as provided by the different micro-techniques, facilitates soundest interpretation of geochronological data. The zircons (at most 40 to 80 m in size) show oscillatory growth zoning, with reversely correlated CL and BSE signal intensities. These zircons are interpreted to have grown during crystallization of the rhyolite because, apart from some cracking, they do not appear to have experienced any alteration since the time of their growth: The shapes of the zircons and their internal structures revealed by CL and BSE imaging appear to be magmatic, and neither annealing of the accumulated alpha-decay damage nor disturbance of the U-Pb system is observed. The SHRIMP ion probe measurements on the zircons gave a Permian ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 278 ± 5 Ma (95% confidence). The concordance of this age is supported by the correlation between the low degrees of metamictization (estimated from Raman parameters) and the accumulated alpha fluxes (calculated from SHRIMP data). The 278 Ma zircon age is interpreted to represent the age of the “lower rhyolites” series and, with that, the age of postkinematic Late Variscan volcanism in the Sub-Erzgebirge basin, which has been related to anorogenic extension and uplift as a result of intracontinental rifting. Because of genetic association of rhyolites in the Sub-Erzgebirge basin and Li-F granites and lamprophyres in the neighbouring Erzgebirge, the rhyolite age also indirectly contributes to the understanding of the geological history of the Erzgebirge. The 278 Ma age is the first absolute dating result for rhyolites from the Saxonian Sub-Erzgebirge basin.