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The Zirconometry and Thermochronology of Migmatized Gneisses of the Gondaray Metamorphic Complex (Greater Caucasus)

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Abstract

The results of the isotope dating of the crystalline basement of the Greater Caucasus (the Elbrus subzone of the Main Caucasus Range) within of the high-temperature gneiss–migmatite area of the Gondaray metamorphic complex is discussed. The relationships between regional metamorphism, migmatization, and heat flows in the lithosphere are considered. The measurements of the zircon isotope compositions were performed on a SHRIMP-II ion microprobe at the CIR VSEGEI (St. Petersburg). All zircon crystals from gneiss sample 526 have a zonal structure with ancient detrital cores. Almost all U–Pb isotope dating points lie on the concordant line and show a wide age range from 320–1000 Ма, partially inherited from detrital zircon grains from primary pelitic sediments. The youngest ages (320 Ма) were measured in the regeneration zones of zircon grains recrystallized during stage of the anatexis and migmatization. The other points of detrital zircons form an age cluster of 540–1000 Ма, which indicates their origin from different magmatic sources that existed during the formation of the protometamorphic protolith. Several detrital zircon grains yielded a Cambrian age; this is evidence for an Early Paleozoic age of the metamorphic protolith, which was traditionally suggested to be Precambrian or even Archean. The ages of the rims of recrystallized zircons (320 Ма) have a direct correlation with the postmetamorphic granitoid ages of the Greater Caucasus. The thermochronological modeling of the transformation of the Gondaray metamorphic complex during the retrogressive stage of metamorphism demonstrates that its cooling from the temperature of migmatite crystallization (650°С) to the closure of the temperature of the K–Ar biotite isotope system (350°С) was relatively rapid (the rate of cooling was 8–10°С/Ma) under subisobaric conditions and during a time range approximately 30–40 Ма.

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Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI St. Petersburg), OAO Kavkazgeols’emka, Geological Institute of RAS, Fersman Mineralogical Museum of RAS, Moscow Sate University and the project of SCOPES SNSF no. IZ73Z0_152392.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    V. Yu. Gerasimov

  2. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute, 199106, St. Petersburg, Russia

    V. A. Snezhko

  3. Department of Geosciences and Earth Sciences, University of Fribourg, СH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    J. Mosar

  4. PSC Kavkazgeolseomka, 357600, Essentuki, Stavropol Region, Russia

    A. N. Pismennyi & N. L. Enna

  5. Department of Geology, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Ulyanov

Authors
  1. V. Yu. Gerasimov
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  2. V. A. Snezhko
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  3. J. Mosar
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  4. A. N. Pismennyi
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  5. N. L. Enna
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  6. A. A. Ulyanov
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to V. Yu. Gerasimov, V. A. Snezhko, J. Mosar, A. N. Pismennyi, N. L. Enna or A. A. Ulyanov.

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Translated by D. Voroshchuk

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Gerasimov, V.Y., Snezhko, V.A., Mosar, J. et al. The Zirconometry and Thermochronology of Migmatized Gneisses of the Gondaray Metamorphic Complex (Greater Caucasus). Moscow Univ. Geol. Bull. 75, 481–495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3103/S014587522005004X

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S014587522005004X

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