Crystallogenesis of zircon in alkaline granites and specifics of zircon U-Pb dating: A case study of the Khangai magmatic area

Data obtained on the Khangai zonal magmatic areole in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt indicate that accessory zircons in alkaline granitoids have crystallogenetic characteristics that generally reflect specifics of the evolution of the parental alkaline magmas. The late differentiation of these magmas was characterized by an increase in the concentrations of trace and rare-earth elements, water, and fluorine in the residual melts and aqueous salt-bearing fluids. Their action was associated with local transformations of the zircon, first and foremost, with local enrichment of zircon crystals in fluid inclusions and in crystalline inclusions of sulfides an other ore minerals. This disturbed the Pb isotopic composition of the zircon, for example, led to its enrichment in common (admixture) Pb and thus caused significant errors and uncertainties in the U-Pb zircon dates. Our recently obtained data indicate that one of the most efficient methods of preparing accessory zircons enriched in common Pb to their U-Pb dating is their preparatory treatment with acids (Makeev, 1981; Mattinson, 1994, 1997, 2005). The application of this technique makes it possible to rid the zircons of phases enriched in common Pb and usually to obtain reliable geochronologic data. The method of preparatory acid treatment of zircons is thus best suitable for geochronologic studies of granitoids of elevated alkalinity.