First results of U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Upper Ordovician sandstones of the Bashkir uplift (Southern Urals)

Abstract

The first results of U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from Upper Ordovician sandstones of the Bashkir uplift in the Southern Urals and U–Pb isotopic ages available for detrital zircons from six stratigraphic levels of the Riphean–Paleozoic section of this region are discussed. It is established that the long (approximately 1.5 Ga) depositional history of sedimentary sequences of the Bashkir uplift includes a peculiar period lasting from the Late Vendian to the Emsian Age of the Early Devonian (0.55–0.41 Ga). This period is characterized by the following features: (1) prevalence of material from eroded Mesoproterozoic and Early Neoproterozoic crystalline complexes among clastics with ages atypical of the Volga–Urals segment of the East European Platform basement; (2) similarity of age spectra obtained for detrital zircons from different rocks of the period: Upper Vendian–Lower Cambrian lithic sandstones and Middle Ordovician substantially quartzose sandstones.