Zircon

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

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Plane-Polarized Light

• Very high relief
• Usually clear but may be colored
• When surrounded by biotite or cordierite, often create pleochroic haloes due to radiation damage.

Crossed Polarizers

• Very high (third- or fourth-order) interference colors

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Below are some large zircon crystals in plane and crossed polars.

Below is a very typical appearance of small zircons in biotite. Uranium and thorium substitute for zirconium, and their decay produces radiation damage in the surrounding material.

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Created 16 December 1999, Last Update

Not an official UW-Green Bay Site