U-Pb ZIRCON GEOCHRONOLOGY FROM THE GREATER CAUCASUS PALEOZOIC COMPLEXES: NEW DATA AND TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS

New data have been obtained on the U-Pb LA-ICP-MS age of detrital zircons from the Middle-Late Carboniferous and Early-Middle Permian molasses of the Greater Caucasus. The accumulation of molasses in the Carboniferous was associated with multiple-age clastic removal. The Permian was dominated by the source areas of detrital zircons with the narrow age range. According to the results obtained, the Kinyrchad formation dates back to the Ufimian (Early Permian). An ancient population of detrital zircons in the Early-Middle Silurian Ullu-Lakhran formation indicates the presence of blocks of ancient continental crust or products of erosion of the blocks within the feeding province. Analysis of the obtained isotopic data on the ages of zircons from the Bechasyn metamorphic complex and detrital zircons from the molasses of the Peredovoy Range zone and the Bechasyn zone testifies in favor of the peri-Gondwanan origin of the complexes making up the metamorphic basement of these zones and their formation on the Gondwana margin at the end of the Late Riphean – Vendian. U-Pb dating of zircons from the Albian-aged (102±1 Ma, ±1σ) andesibasalts of the Daut River valley raises the question of the probability of manifestation of the Cretaceous magmatic activity in the Greater Caucasus.

1. Baraboshkin E.Yu., 1999. Albian Ammonite Biostratigraphy of the Northern Caucasus. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie 212 (1–3), 175–210. https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpa/212/1999/175.

2. Baraboshkin E.Yu., Alekseev A.S., Kopaevich L.F., 2003. Cretaceous Palaeogeography of the North-Eastern Peri-Tethys. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatolology, Palaeoecology 196 (1–2), 177–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00318-3.

3. Black L.P., Kamo S.L., Allen C.M., Davis D.W., Aleinikoff J.N., Valley J.W., Mundil R., Campbell I.H., Korsch R.J., Williams I.S., Foudoulis C., 2004. Improved 206Pb/238U Microprobe Geochronology by the Monitoring of a Trace-Element-Related Matrix Effect; SHRIMP, ID-TIMS, ELA-ICP-MS and Oxygen Isotope Documentation for a Series of Zircon Standards. Chemical Geology 205 (1–2), 115–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2004.01.003.

4. Carwood P.А., Martin E.L., Murphy J.B., Pisarevsky S.A., 2021. Gondwana’s Interlinked Peripheral Orogens. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 568, 117057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117057.

5. Gamkrelidze I., Shengelia D., Chichinadze G., Lee Y.-H., Okrostsvaridze A., Beridze G., Vardanashvili K., 2020. U-Pb LA-ICP-MS Dating of Zoned Zircons from the Greater Caucasus Pre-Alpine Crystalline Basement: Evidence for Cadomian to Late Variscan Evolution. Geologica Carpathica 71 (3), 249–263. https://doi.org/10.31577/GeolCarp.71.3.4.

6. Gamkrelidze I.P., Shengeliya D.M., 2005. Precambrian-Paleozoic Regional Metamorphism, Granitoid Magmatism and Geodynamics of the Caucasus. Nauchny Mir, Moscow, 460 p. (in Russian)

7. Griffin W.L., Powell W.J., Pearson N.J., O’Reilly S.Y., 2008. GLITTER: Data Reduction Software for Laser Ablation ICPMS. In: P.J. Sylvester (Ed.), Laser Ablation ICP-MS in the Earth Sciences: Current Practices and Outstanding Issues. Mineralogical Association of Canada Short Course Series. Vol. 40. Vancouver, Canada, p. 308–311.

8. Horstwood M.S.A., Kosler J., Gehrels G., Jackson S.E., McLean N.M., Paton Ch., Pearson N.J., Sircombe K. et al., 2016. Community-Derived Standards for LA-ICP-MS U-(Th-)Pb Geochronology – Uncertainty Propagation, Age Interpretation and Data Reporting. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 40 (3), 311–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-908X.2016.00379.x.

9. Jackson S.E., Pearson N.J., Griffin W.L., Belousova E.A., 2004. The Application of Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry to in Situ U-Pb Zircon Geochronology. Chemical Geology 211 (1–2), 47–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2004.06.017.

10. Kamzolkin V.A., Latyshev A.V., Vidyapin Y.P., Somin M.L., Smul’skaya A.I., Ivanov S.D., 2018. Late Vendian Complexes in the Structure of Metamorphic Basement of the Fore Range Zone, Greater Caucasus. Geotectonics 52 (3), 331–345. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016852118030020.

11. Kuznetsov N.B., Razumovsky A.A., Latysheva I.V., Shatsillo A.V., Fedyukin I.V., Dantsova K.I., Romanyuk T.V., Maslova O.A. et al., 2025. The Age of the Urlesh Formation (Basal Level of the Paleozoic Succession of the Northern Slope of the Greater Caucasus) and the Sources of Its Clastic Material. Doklady Earth Sciences 521 (1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X24604309.

12. Kuznetsov N.B., Romanyuk T.V., 2021. Peri-Gondwanan Blocks in the Structure of the Southern and Southeastern Framing of the East European Platform. Geotectonics 55 (4), 439–472. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016852121040105.

13. Latyshev A., Kulakova E., Kamzolkin V., 2019. The Structure of the Crystalline Basement and Age of Geological Events of the Fore Range Zone of the Greater Caucasus. In: Abstracts of the AGU Fall Meeting (December 8–13, 2019, San Francisco). AGU, p. 350.

14. Latysheva I.V., Kuznetsov N.B., Razumovsky A.A., Shatsillo A.V., Romanyuk T.V., Fedyukin I.V., Dantsova K.I., Novikova A.S., 2024. The Age of Zircon Grains from the Metatuffaceous Sandstones of the Shidzhatmaz Formation on the Northern Slope of the Greater Caucasus: Contribution to Regional Stratigraphy of the Upper Cambrian. In: Geodynamic Evolution of the Lithosphere of the Central Asian Mobile Belt (from Ocean to Continent). Proceedings of Scientific Meeting (October 15–19, 2024). Iss. 22. IEC SB RAS, Irkutsk, p. 183–185 (in Russian)

15. Leonov Yu.G. (Ed.), 2007. Greater Caucasus in the Alpine Epoch. GEOS, Moscow, 368 p. (in Russian) [Большой Кавказ в альпийскую эпоху / Ред. Ю.Г. Леонов. М.: ГЕОС, 2007. 368 с.].

16. Nikishin A.M., Khotylev A.O., Bychkov A.Yu., Kopaevich L.F., Petrov E.I., Yapaskurt V.O., 2013. Cretaceous Volcanic Belts and the Evolution of the Black Sea Basin. Moscow University Geology Bulletin 68 (3), 141–154. https://doi.org/10.3103/S0145875213030058.

17. Paton Ch., Hellstrom J., Paul B., Woodhead J., Hergt J., 2011. Iolite: Freeware for the Visualisation and Processing of Mass Spectrometric Data. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 26 (12), 2508–2518. https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JA10172B.

18. Petrus J., Kamber B., 2012. VizualAge: A Novel Approach to Laser Ablation ICP-MS U-Pb Geochronology Data Reduction. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 36 (3), 247–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-908X.2012.00158.x.

19. Semkin V.A., Korsakov S.G., Kotov A.B., 1997. The Results of Samarium-Neodymium and Uranium-Lead Isotope Dating of the Rocks from the Bechasyn Zone of the Central Caucasus. In: The Problems of Geology and Geoecology of the Southern Russia and the Caucasus. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference. Vol. 1. Nabla, Novocherkassk, p. 42–44 (in Russian)

20. Sláma J., Košler J., Condon D.J., Crowley J.L., Gerdes A., Hanchar J.M., Horstwood M.S.A., Morris G.A. et al., 2008. Plešovice Zircon – A New Natural Reference Material for U-Pb and Hf Isotopic Microanalysis. Chemical Geology 249 (1–2), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2007.11.005.

21. Snezhko V.A., Potapenko Yu.Ya., 2001. Compositional Features of the Proterozoic Volcanites from the Khasaut Synclinorium of the North Caucasus and Their Formation Conditions. In: Neogene Tectonics: General and Regional Aspects. Proceedings of the XXXIV Tectonic Meeting (January 30 – February 3, 2001). Vol. 2. GEOS, Moscow, p. 208–211 (in Russian)

22. Snezhko V.A., Snezhko V.V., Sharpenok L.N., 2021. Malkinsky Granite-Leucogranite Plutonic Complex (North Caucasus). Regional Geology and Metallogeny 85, 5–20 (in Russian)

23. Somin M., 2011. Pre-Jurassic Basement of the Greater Caucasus: Brief Overview. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 20 (5), 545–610. https://doi.org/10.3906/yer-1008-6.

24. Somin M.L., Potapenko Yu.Ya., 2008. The Bechasyn Zone of the Greater Caucasus Basement: Age of the Complexes and Problem of Their Tectonic Position. In: General and Regional Problems of Tectonics and Geodynamics. Proceedings of the XLI Tectonic Meeting (January 29 – February 2, 2008). Vol. 2. GEOS, Moscow, p. 286‒290 (in Russian)

25. Stacey J.S., Kramers I.D., 1975. Approximation of Terrestrial Lead Isotope Evolution by a Two-Stage Model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 26 (2), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(75)90088-6.

26. Stampfii G.M., von Raumer J.F., Borel G.D., 2002. Paleozoic Evolution of Pre-Variscan Terranes: From Gondwana to the Variscan Collision. In: J.R. Martínez Catalán, R.D. Hatcher Jr., R. Arenas, F. Díaz García (Eds), Variscan-Appalachian Dynamics: The Building of the Late Paleozoic Basement. Geological Society of America Special Paper 364, p. 263–280. https://doi.org/10.1130/0-8137-2364-7.263.

27. State Geological Map of the Russian Federation, 2002. Caucasian Series. Scale of 1:200000. Sheet K-37-V. Explanatory Note. VSEGEI, Saint Petersburg, 213 p. (in Russian)

28. State Geological Map of the Russian Federation, 2004. Caucasian Series. Scale of 1:200000. Sheet K-38-I, VII (Kislovodsk). Explanatory Note. Moscow Branch of VSEGEI, Moscow, 365 p. (in Russian)

29. State Geological Map of the Russian Federation, 2008. Scythian Series. Scale of 1:200000. Sheet L-37-XXX (Stavropol). Explanatory Note. Moscow Branch of VSEGEI, Moscow, 122 p. (in Russian)

30. State Geological Map of the Russian Federation, 2021. Caucasian Series. Scale of 1:200000. Sheet K-37-VI, (XII) (Karachaevsk). Explanatory Note. Moscow Branch of VSEGEI, Moscow, 226 p. (in Russian)

31. Stern R.J., 1994. Arc Assembly and Continental Collision in the Neoproterozoic East African Orogen: Implications for the Consolidation of Gondwanaland. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 22, 319–351. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ea.22.050194.001535.

32. Stratigraphic Dictionary of the USSR, 1977. Carbon, Perm. Nedra, Leningrad, 535 p. (in Russian)

33. Vermeesch P., 2018. IsoplotR: A Free and Open Toolbox for Geochronology. Geoscience Frontiers 9 (5), 1479–1493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2018.04.001.

34. Vermeesch P., 2021. Maximum Depositional Age Estimation Revisited. Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2), 843–850. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.08.008.

35. Veselovskiy R.V., Dubinya N.V., Ponomarev A.V., Fokin I.V., Patonin A.V., Pasenko A.M., Fetisova A.M., Matveev M.A., Afinogenova N.A., Rud’ko D.V., Chistyakova A.V., 2022. Shared Research Facilities "Petrophysics, Geomechanics and Paleomagnetism" of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS. Geodynamics & Tectonophysics 13 (2), 0579 (in Russian) https://doi.org/10.5800/GT-2022-13-2-0579.