Ti in zircon from the Boggy Plain zoned pluton: implications for zircon petrology and Hadean tectonics

Abstract

The understanding of zircon crystallization, and of the Ti-in-zircon thermometer, has been enhanced by Ti concentration measurements of zircon from a small, concentrically zoned pluton in south-eastern Australia, the Boggy Plain zoned pluton (BPZP). Zircon crystals from rocks ranging in composition from gabbro to aplite were analysed for U–Th–Pb dating and Ti concentrations by an ion microprobe. Geochronological data yield a 206Pb/238U age of 417.2 ± 2.0 Ma (95% confidence) and demonstrate the presence of older inherited or xenocrystic zircon. Titanium measurements (n = 158) yield a mean Ti concentration of 11.7 ± 6.1 ppm (2SD) which corresponds to a mean crystallization temperature of 790°C for an α-TiO2 = 0.74 (estimated using mineral equilibria), or 760°C for an α-TiO2 = 1.0. Apparent zircon crystallization temperatures are similar in all intrusive phases, although the gabbro yields slightly higher values, indicating that crystallization occurred at the same temperature in all rock types. This finding is consistent with previous work on the BPZP, which indicates that liquid–crystal sorting (crystal fractionation) was the dominant control on chemical differentiation, and that late, differentiated liquids were similar in composition for all rock types. A simple forward model approximately predicts the range of crystallization temperatures, but not the shape of the distributions, due to sampling biases and complexities in the cooling and crystallization history of the pluton. The distribution of Ti concentrations has a mode at a higher Ti (higher temperature) than the sample set of Hadean detrital zircon. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the skew to low-T in the Hadean dataset is due to the presence of zircon that crystallized from wet anatectic melts.