40Ar/39Ar Geochronology of the Malyy (Little) Murun Massif, Aldan Shield of the Siberian Craton: A Simple Story for an Intricate Igneous Complex

Abstract

The Malyy (Little) Murun massif of the Aldan Shield of the Siberian Craton has long been a kind of Siberian Mecca for geologists. It has attracted thousands of geologists, prospectors, and mineral collectors despite its remote location. It is famous for a dozen new and rare minerals, including the gemstones charoite and dianite (the latter is the market name for strontian potassicrichrerite), as well as for a range of uncommon alkaline igneous rocks. Despite this, the age of the Malyy Murun igneous complex and associated metasomatic and hydrothermal mineral associations has remained poorly constrained until now. In this paper, we provide extensive 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data to reveal its age and temporal history. It appears that, although unique in terms of rocks and constituent minerals, the Malyy Murun is just one of multiple alkaline massifs and lavas emplaced in the Early Cretaceous (~137–128 Ma) within a framework of the extensional setting of the Aldan Shield and nearby Transbaikalian region. The extension took place 40–60 million years after the supposed closure of the Mongolia–Okhotsk Ocean and orogenic peak in the Early–Middle Jurassic.