Constituent
Name
Zircon
IMA name
Zircon
Class
silicate mineral
Compound type
nesosilicate
Relevance
main - minor
Arrangement
single phase
Mass fraction
1.0
Formula
$ZrSiO_4$
Chemical formula
ZrSiO4
Elemental formula
Zr Si O4
Isotope mixture type
terrestrial abundance
  Formula Name Family Number min-max Isotope mole fraction State Relevance
$Zr$ Zirconium element 1 constituent element main
$Si$ Silicon element 1 constituent element main
$O$ Oxygen element 4 constituent element main
Composition comments
substituted Hf (~5%), traces of U, Th, Pb, P, La, Ce, Pr, Nd and Sm (~5%)

Strunz

Class
silicates (09)
Division
nesosilicate (09.A)
Family
Nesosilicates without additional anions (09.AD)
Code
09.AD.30

Dana

Major class
silicates (VIII)
Class
nesosilicate insular SiO4 groups only (51)
Type
with cations in >[6] coordination (51.05)
Group
Zircon group (51.05.02)
Code
51.05.02.01
Phase type
crystalline
Crystal system
tetragonal
Crystal class
ditetragonal-dipyramidal
Crystal class symbol
4/mmm (D4h)
Crystal spacegroup
I4(1)/amd
Comments
May be partly or fully metamict (U and Th rich crystals)
Molar mass
183.307 $g/mol$
Density
4.6 - 4.7 (calc.: 4.714) $g/cm^3$
Refringence type
uniaxial
Refringence sign
negative
Birefringence
0.047 - 0.055
Refraction index $n_{\alpha}$
1.967 - 2.015
Refraction index $n_{\beta}$
1.92 - 1.96
Diaphaneity
transparent to opaque
Luster
adamantine