【mineral photo】 inclusion minerals in zircon crystals

Zircon(ジルコン, 風信子鉱) is a common accessory mineral having a chemical formula of ZrSiO₄. Because zircon has relatively high hardness and closure temperature, geoscientists often use this mineral for micro-chemical analyses to know age and geological environment of host rock formation.  Furthermore, zircon contains many kinds of inclusion minerals such as apatite, magnetite, feldspar, quartz, and so on.  Here this article shows some cute zircon crystals having inclusion minerals.

This euhedral zircon is from a Jurassic granite in Unazuki area, Toyama Pref., Japan. The zircon contains many elongated crystals of apatite.

Photos below show detrital zircons from river sand in Brazil. Those are mounted in epoxy resin and the surface of them was polished. We can see many kinds of minerals as inclusion as well as an inherited core of zircon and internal growth structure.