The First Evidence for Mesozoic Magmatism on the Western Slope of the Southern Urals

Numerous Riphean mafic dykes cross-cut Precambrian clastics and carbonates on the western slope of the Southern Urals. An andesite dyke with an isotope age of 71 ± 1 Ma (U–Pb SHRIMP II on zircons) encountered among metamorphic rocks of the Taratashskii complex (Archean–Early Proterozoic) at the northern terminus of the Bashkirian meganticlinorium along with two gabbro bodies with zircons of similar ages near the town of Bakal provides the first evidence of Mesozoic magmatism in this region.