REGIONAL SYNTHESIS
Geological story
The Dara-i-Pioz alkaline massif in the Alai Range is internationally significant for rare-mineral research; quartz-rich boulders and alkaline rocks host complex silicate, carbonate, and fluoride assemblages. Farther west in Sughd, the Konchoch area contains documented fluorite-bearing polymetallic deposits.
- Time represented
- Paleozoic host rocks with younger alkaline and hydrothermal mineralisation
- Tectonic setting
- Late Paleozoic collision belt where the Turkestan Ocean closed: from north to south the Turkestan–Alai flysch, the Zeravshan subduction–accretion complex and the Gissar arc, which ends at the Gissar suture
- Rock record
- Alkaline rocks, syenite and pegmatite, quartz-rich boulders, carbonatite-related rocks, calcite and fluorite-bearing assemblages
DOCUMENTED PROVENANCE
Linked minerals
Dara-i-Pioz alkaline complex, Alai Range · Albite is a principal component, with quartz and aegirine, of a metasomatically altered alkaline rock that contains the rare minerals baratovite and miserite. The public record is intentionally limited to approximate locality.
SourcedThe mineralogy of a unique baratovite- and miserite-bearing quartz–albite–aegirine rock from the Dara-i-Pioz ComplexAdrasman agate occurrence, Sughd region · Zoned chalcedony–quartz agate occurs in the Adrasman–Kanimansur ore field on the south-western slopes of the Kuramin range; agates from near Dolany village are held in Moscow museums.
SourcedSevastopol Stone Museum — Agate, Adrasman agate occurrence, Sughd regionDara-i-Pioz alkaline massif · Quartz-rich boulders host rare-mineral assemblages documented by modern mineral descriptions. The record is regional and does not disclose a collection point.
SourcedKalyuzhnyite-(Ce), a new mineral from the Dara-i-Pioz alkaline massifDara-i-Pioz alkaline massif · Calcite is documented in carbonatite and hydrothermal-metasomatic assemblages of this unusual alkaline massif.
SourcedTrace Elements in Calcite from the Darai Piez Alkaline MassifKonchoch area, Ayni District · The USGS reports fluorite in the Konchoch and Shakhkon polymetallic deposits. This is a deposit record, not permission or guidance for collecting.
SourcedU.S. Geological Survey: Mineral Industry of Tajikistan in 2022Dara-i-Pioz alkaline complex, Alai Range · Aegirine is a principal component of a quartz–albite–aegirine rock containing the rare minerals baratovite and miserite. The public record is intentionally limited to approximate locality.
SourcedThe mineralogy of a unique baratovite- and miserite-bearing quartz–albite–aegirine rock from the Dara-i-Pioz ComplexEVIDENCE BASE
Sources for this region
Trace Elements in Calcite from the Darai Piez Alkaline MassifFaiziev & Gafurov · 2010Documents calcite chemistry and its alkaline-massif geological setting.
The mineralogy of a unique baratovite- and miserite-bearing quartz–albite–aegirine rock from the Dara-i-Pioz Complex, northern TajikistanReguir, Chakhmouradian & Evdokimov · 1999Documents aegirine as a principal phase and describes the metasomatically altered alkaline-rock assemblage.
Birth, life, and demise of the Andean–syn-collisional Gissar arc: Late Paleozoic tectono-magmatic-metamorphic evolution of the southwestern Tian Shan, TajikistanWorthington et al. · 2017Divides the South Tien Shan of Tajikistan into the Gissar arc, the Zeravshan complex and the Turkestan–Alai flysch.