Zircon (Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry)

Zircon (ZrSiO4) is a common accessory mineral in nature, occurring in a wide variety of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. Known to incorporate an assortment of minor and trace elements, zircon has the ability to retain substantial chemical and isotopic information, leading to its use in a wide range of geochemical investigations, including studies on the evolution of Earth’s crust and mantle as well as age dating. The physical and chemical durability of zircon is a major factor in it being the mineral by which many of Earth’s oldest known rocks have been dated and is also an important factor in zircon being proposed as a candidate waste form for the geologic disposal of excess plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons.