Chemical dating of zircon from granitic pegmatite of the Shartash Massif (Central Urals)

Abstract

Using techniques of microprobe analysis and Raman microspectroscopy, a study of the composition, structure, and age of high-uranium zircon from the Sharatash intrusion pegmatite was performed. The presence of a number of zones in crystals having different physicochemical characteristics has been revealed. The Id-e zones affected by a radiation dose of (30–130) × 10¹⁸ α-dec/g were completely amorphized, and their chemical isochron age was estimated at 311.4 ± 7.1 Ma: this is interpreted as the time of zircon formation in the pegmatite. The age of uraninite coupled with zircon is 317.1 ± 2.3 Ma. These dating results clarify the formation time of the final phase (pegmatite) of the Shartash intrusion and determine the upper age limit of hydrothermal gold mineralization (Berezovsk deposit) associated with the granite massif.