The mineral zircon is used widely to constrain the age of rocks and the processes that formed them. Although zircon is robust to a range of physical and chemical processes, it may show evidence for rapid re-equilibration that is generally considered to reflect interaction with hydrous fluids. Here, we show that zircon grains that crystallized from melt produced during the catastrophic meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exhibit re-equilibration textures that occurred in an environment without free water. The process of re-equilibration involved a melt-mediated interface-coupled dissolution-reprecipitation that took place over a few days to produce textures that are commonly observed in igneous and anatectic systems. Thus, the composition of zircon can be modified even in the absence of hydrous fluids in a short time frame. Through this process, zircon crystals may track the timing of the last silicate melt they interacted with.

中文翻译：

---

切尔诺贝利反应堆熔毁过程中产生的锆石的熔融介导再平衡

矿物锆石被广泛用于限制岩石的年龄及其形成过程。尽管锆石对一系列物理和化学过程具有鲁棒性，但它可能显示出快速重新平衡的证据，这通常被认为反映了与含水流体的相互作用。在这里，我们表明，从切尔诺贝利核反应堆灾难性熔毁期间产生的熔体中结晶出来的锆石晶粒表现出在没有游离水的环境中发生的再平衡结构。再平衡过程涉及熔融介导的界面耦合溶解-再沉淀，该过程发生在几天内，以产生在火成岩和深熔系统中常见的纹理。因此，即使在不存在含水流体的情况下，也可以在短时间内改变锆石的成分。通过这个过程，锆石晶体可以追踪它们最后一次与之相互作用的硅酸盐熔体的时间。