Description

Detailed Description

This zircon crystal sharp and lustrous, centred in the matrix. It looks dark red (and essentially it is) but upon closer inspection you can see colour zoning/gradation – it ranges from deep wine-red, to a more intense red and then a small zone of almost colourless near the tip. The first photograph has relatively stong light to highlight the crystal’s internal colour. From the backside of the specimen there are bright internal flashes of light. The crystal is in excellent condition as displayed, with an incomplete back left corner (some of this is due to the way it formed and some is chipping). Fluoresces yellow under short-wave ultraviolet light, as shown in the last photograph. As displayed,(supported a bit from behind to stand ls in the first photo) this is an excellent thumbnail-sized red zircon specimen.

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About these Zircon Specimens

These zircons are from a relatively large new find of zircons from Astor Valley, in Pakistan. A locality that has sporadically produced moderate amounts of material in recent years, this recent find produced a large number of pieces. However, fine zircons are proportionally very few. There are two key reasons for this. First, the zircons are enclosed within solid rock with other hard constituent minerals, such that a good number of zircons were broken when they were collected. However, the second reason is the much more prevalent issue based on the material I’ve seen: the zircon crystals seem to have formed more or less contemporaneously with most of the other minerals in the deposit – feldspar, biotite mica, and pyroxene – and as a result, most of the zircon crystals are not fully developed. Instead, most zircon crystal growth was interrupted by the growth of these other minerals, and therefore most zircons are simply incomplete, or malformed. And yet, among well over 1000 pieces I went through from this find, there were a few excellent specimens.