Finds of “Ancient” Zircons in Magmatic Rocks of the Shatak Complex (Southern Urals) and Their Petrogenic Implications

Abstract

New data on the presence of “old” zircons in magmatic rocks of the Shatak Complex have been obtained. This suggests that the evolution of melts in intermediate magma chambers was controlled by the AFC process, in which the liquidus phases (olivine ± clinopyroxene) fractionated, the fluid phases accumulated in the apical part of the chamber, and the host rocks were partly assimilated. Hence, the “old” zircons were entrained from the Archaean–Paleoproterozoic granite–gneiss substrate and trapped by the melt during crustal contamination.