Zircon crystals from a locally charnockitizedPaleoproterozoic high-K metagranite from the KeralaKhondalite Belt (KKB) of southern India have been investigatedby high-spatial resolution secondary ion mass spectrometryanalysis of U–Th–Pb and rare earth elements(REE), together with scanning ion imaging and scanningion tomography (depth-profiled ion imaging). The spotanalyses constrain the magmatic crystallization age of themetagranite to ca. 1,850 Ma, with ultrahigh-temperature(UHT) metamorphism occurring at ca. 570 Ma and superimposedcharnockite formation at ca. 520–510 Ma, whilethe ion imaging reveals a patchy distribution of radiogenicPb throughout the zircon cores. Middle- to heavy-REEdepletion in ca. 570 Ma zircon rims suggests that thesegrew in equilibrium with garnet and therefore date theUHT metamorphism in the KKB. The maximum apparent207Pb/206Pb age obtained from the unsupported radiogenicPb concentrations is also consistent with formationof the Pb patches during this event. The superimposed charnockitization event appears to have caused additionalPb-loss in the cores and recrystallization of the rims. Theresults of depth-profiling of the scanning ion tomographyimage stack show that the Pb-rich domains range in sizefrom <5 nm to several 10 nm (diameter if assumed to bespherical). The occurrence of such patchy Pb has previouslybeen documented only from UHT metamorphiczircon, where it likely results from annealing of radiation-damaged zircon. The formation of a discrete, heterogeneouslydistributed and subsequently immobile Pb phaseeffectively arrests the normal Pb-loss process seen at lowergrades of metamorphism.