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Melt-mediated re-equilibration of zircon produced during meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor

  • Denis Fougerouse ORCID logo , Thorsten Geisler , Steven M. Reddy ORCID logo , Matvei Aleshin , Laure Martin , Luc S. Doucet ORCID logo , Zakaria Quadir , David Saxey and William Rickard
Published/Copyright: December 31, 2023
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 109 Issue 1

Abstract

The mineral zircon is used widely to constrain the age of rocks and the processes that formed them. Although zircon is robust to a range of physical and chemical processes, it may show evidence for rapid re-equilibration that is generally considered to reflect interaction with hydrous fluids. Here, we show that zircon grains that crystallized from melt produced during the catastrophic meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exhibit re-equilibration textures that occurred in an environment without free water. The process of re-equilibration involved a melt-mediated interface-coupled dissolutionreprecipitation that took place over a few days to produce textures that are commonly observed in igneous and anatectic systems. Thus, the composition of zircon can be modified even in the absence of hydrous fluids in a short time frame. Through this process, zircon crystals may track the timing of the last silicate melt they interacted with.

Keywords: Zircon, anatexis; nanoscale; atom probe tomography; re-equilibration; Isotopes; Minerals, and; Petrology: Honoring John Valley
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Acknowledgments and Funding

Boris Burakov is thanked for providing the sample. Tim Johnson is warmly thanked for providing edits and comments to the manuscript. Editorial handling by Jade Star Lackey and reviews by Elizabeth Bell and an anonymous reviewer are gratefully acknowledged. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Curtin University’s Microscopy & Microanalysis Facility and the John de Laeter Centre, whose instrumentation has been supported by University, State, and Commonwealth Government funding. D.F. and T.G. acknowledge Australian Research Council funding (DE190101307) and funding by the German Research Foundation (GE1094/8-1), respectively.

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Received: 2022-10-06
Accepted: 2023-03-02
Published Online: 2023-12-31
Published in Print: 2024-01-29

© 2024 by Mineralogical Society of America

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The search for a universal law of crystal growth: The law of proportionate effect?
  2. Crystal growth according to the law of proportionate effect
  3. Melt-mediated re-equilibration of zircon produced during meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor
  4. High-pressure behavior and structural transition of beryl-type johnkoivulaite, Cs(Be2B)Mg2Si6O18
  5. Subsolidus breakdown of armalcolite: Constraints on thermal effects during shock lithification of lunar regolith
  6. Melting and melt segregation processes controlling granitic melt composition
  7. Magmatic degassing controlled the metal budget of the Axi epithermal gold deposit, China
  8. Formation of mixed-layer sulfide-hydroxide minerals from the Tochilinite-Valleriite group during experimental serpentinization of olivine
  9. Two discrete gold mineralization events recorded by hydrothermal xenotime and monazite, Xiaoqinling gold district, central China
  10. Formation of amphibole lamellae in mantle pyroxene by fluid-mediated metasomatism: A focal plane array FTIR study from the Carpathian-Pannonian region
  11. Origin of gem-quality turquoise associated with quartz-barite veins in western Hubei Province, China: Constraints from mineralogical, fluid inclusion, and C-O-H isotopic data
  12. The 450 nm (2.8 eV) cathodoluminescence emission in quartz and its relation to structural defects and Ti contents
  13. Correlation between Hinckley index and stacking order-disorder in kaolinite
  14. Structure and titanium distribution of feiite characterized using synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques
  15. Enrichment of precious metals associated with chalcopyrite inclusions in sphalerite and pyrite
  16. An UV/Vis/NIR optical absorption spectroscopic and color investigation of transition-metal-doped gahnite (ZnAl2O4 spinel) crystals grown by the flux method
  17. Understanding the unique geochemical behavior of Sc in the interaction with clay minerals
  18. Scandian actinolite from Jordanów Śląski, Lower Silesia, Poland: Compositional evolution, crystal structure, and genetic Implications
  19. Characterizing a new type of nelsonite recognized in the Damiao anorthosite complex, North China Craton, with implications for the genesis of giant magmatic Fe-Ti oxide deposits
  20. Genesis of Mesozoic high-Mg dioritic rocks from the eastern North China Craton: Implications for the evolution of continental lithosphere
  21. SEM and FIB-TEM analyses on nanoparticulate arsenian pyrite: Implications for Au enrichment in the Carlin-type giant Lannigou gold deposit, SW China
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-8824
Keywords for this article
Zircon, anatexis; nanoscale; atom probe tomography; re-equilibration; Isotopes; Minerals, and; Petrology: Honoring John Valley

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The search for a universal law of crystal growth: The law of proportionate effect?
  2. Crystal growth according to the law of proportionate effect
  3. Melt-mediated re-equilibration of zircon produced during meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor
  4. High-pressure behavior and structural transition of beryl-type johnkoivulaite, Cs(Be2B)Mg2Si6O18
  5. Subsolidus breakdown of armalcolite: Constraints on thermal effects during shock lithification of lunar regolith
  6. Melting and melt segregation processes controlling granitic melt composition
  7. Magmatic degassing controlled the metal budget of the Axi epithermal gold deposit, China
  8. Formation of mixed-layer sulfide-hydroxide minerals from the Tochilinite-Valleriite group during experimental serpentinization of olivine
  9. Two discrete gold mineralization events recorded by hydrothermal xenotime and monazite, Xiaoqinling gold district, central China
  10. Formation of amphibole lamellae in mantle pyroxene by fluid-mediated metasomatism: A focal plane array FTIR study from the Carpathian-Pannonian region
  11. Origin of gem-quality turquoise associated with quartz-barite veins in western Hubei Province, China: Constraints from mineralogical, fluid inclusion, and C-O-H isotopic data
  12. The 450 nm (2.8 eV) cathodoluminescence emission in quartz and its relation to structural defects and Ti contents
  13. Correlation between Hinckley index and stacking order-disorder in kaolinite
  14. Structure and titanium distribution of feiite characterized using synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques
  15. Enrichment of precious metals associated with chalcopyrite inclusions in sphalerite and pyrite
  16. An UV/Vis/NIR optical absorption spectroscopic and color investigation of transition-metal-doped gahnite (ZnAl2O4 spinel) crystals grown by the flux method
  17. Understanding the unique geochemical behavior of Sc in the interaction with clay minerals
  18. Scandian actinolite from Jordanów Śląski, Lower Silesia, Poland: Compositional evolution, crystal structure, and genetic Implications
  19. Characterizing a new type of nelsonite recognized in the Damiao anorthosite complex, North China Craton, with implications for the genesis of giant magmatic Fe-Ti oxide deposits
  20. Genesis of Mesozoic high-Mg dioritic rocks from the eastern North China Craton: Implications for the evolution of continental lithosphere
  21. SEM and FIB-TEM analyses on nanoparticulate arsenian pyrite: Implications for Au enrichment in the Carlin-type giant Lannigou gold deposit, SW China
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