近日，美国斯坦福大学Mathieu G.A. Laptre团队报道了碎屑锆石微结构分析助力变质沉积岩的古环境解释。相关论文于2025年10月15日发表在《地质学》杂志上。

沉积岩记录了地球表面的演化历史。然而，成岩作用、风化作用、构造变形与变质作用的改造，使得对地球最早期环境的解读充满挑战与不确定性。

研究组揭示，碎屑锆石颗粒即便存在于十亿年前的沉积岩中，仍能完整保存其搬运历史的原始信息。他们系统记录了现代陆相环境（风成、河流与海滩前滨）及独立确定搬运历史的显生宙沉积岩中现代锆石砂粒的微观结构特征。统计分析表明，微结构组合可用于判别碎屑锆石颗粒（包括再循环颗粒）的搬运环境。最终，研究组通过锆石微结构分析，成功应用于搬运历史独立存在但约束较弱的前寒武纪变沉积岩。碎屑锆石颗粒保存着尚未开发的早期地表环境记录，将砂粒微结构分析的适用范围拓展至地球历史最初90%的时期。

附：英文原文

Title: Microtextural analyses of detrital zircon for paleoenvironmental interpretations of metasedimentary rocks

Author: M. Colin Marvin, Michael Hasson, Vittorio Colicci, Raisha Abubo, Mathieu G.A. Laptre

Issue&Volume: 2025-10-15

Abstract: Sedimentary rocks archive the history of Earth’s surface. However, alteration by diagenesis, weathering, deformation, and metamorphism makes interpretating Earth’s earliest environments challenging and ambiguous. We show that detrital zircon grains preserve an unaltered account of transport history, even in billion-year-old sedimentary rocks. We systematically document microscopic features on modern zircon sand grains (“microtextures”) from three continental environments—aeolian, fluvial, and beach foreshore—in modern sediment and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks of independently known transport history. Our statistical analysis reveals that microtextural assemblages can be used to diagnose transport settings in detrital zircon grains, including recycled grains. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of zircon microtextural analyses to Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of independently but poorly constrained transport histories. Detrital zircon grains preserve an untapped account of early surface environments, expanding the applicability of sand microtextural analyses to the first 90% of Earth’s history.

DOI: 10.1130/G53712.1

Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/doi/10.1130/G53712.1/661924/Microtextural-analyses-of-detrital-zircon-for