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On the distribution of purple zircon in British sedimentary rocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

P. G. H. Boswell
P. G. H. Boswell*
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
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Extract

By the publication of his paper on 'The source of the purple zircons in the sedimentary rocks of Scotland', Dr. Wm. Mackie has done his fellow-workers on the petrology of British sedimentary rocks a signal service, He has proved that this distinctive purple (or sometimes rosecoloured) variety of zircon is relatively abundant in the Lewisian gneiss. The variety occurs usually as rounded or ovoid grains, but occasionally with crystalline form ; it is often finely polished, as if by wind, and is sometimes zoned, with a darker centre, or displays colour of varying intensity; it is often definitely, although but slightly, pleochroic, and usually possesses high bireffingence. These characteristics at once bring to mind grains of zircon frequently met with in sedimentary rocks and recorded by numerous other observers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical magazine and journal of the Mineralogical Society , Volume 21 , Issue 118 , September 1927 , pp. 310 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1927

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References

page 310 note 1 W. Mackie, Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc., 1923, vol. 11, pp. 200-213. [Min. Abstr, vol. 2, p. 311.]

page 310 note 2 For example, Dr. R. H. Rastall refers to 'pink zonary zircons' in the Lower Greensand (Geol. Mag., 1919, vol. 56, pp. 218, 220, &c.). Other writers in their accounts of sedimentary rocks have referred certain purple zircon-like grains to xenotime. In my own notes from 1912 onwards, I have frequently recorded a 'pink or purple zircon-like mineral'. Since the publication of Dr. Mackie's paper, the references to the purple variety of zircon have been numerous.

page 311 note 1 Paper in course of publication in the Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc. (Abstract in Geol. Mag., 1927, col. 64, pp. 141-142).

page 311 note 2 For example, Dr. A. Brammall records it in the Dartmoor granite (Min. Mag., 1923, col. 20, pp. 27-31). Subsequent investigations have led him also to record the presence of purple zircon, but the variety is no$ of common occurrence, and is confined to one phase of tile granite.

page 311 note 3 G. Uzielli, Sopra lo zireone della Costa Tirrena. Atti R. Accad. Lincei, Roma, 1876, ser. 27 col. 8, pp. 862-877.

page 311 note 4 K. v. Chrustschoff, Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Zirkone in Gesteinen. Tscher maks Min. Petr. Mitt., 1886, col. 7, pp. 423-442.

page 311 note 5 B H. Thurach, Ueber das Vorkommen mikroskopischer Zirkone und Titan-Mineralien in den Gesteinen. Verh. Phys.-Med. Gesell. Wurzburg, 1884, n. ser., vol. 18, pp. 203-284.

page 312 note 1 G. Spezia, Sul colore del zircone. Atti Accad. Sci. Torino, 1876, vol. 12, pp. 87-43, and 1899, vol. 34, pp. 906-910.

page 312 note 2 J. Zerndt, Uber mikroskopische Zirkone aus den Karpathensandsteinen der Umgegend yon Cieikowice. Bull. Intern. Acad. Polonaise Sci. Lett., Ser. A, 1924, pp. 219-229.

page 312 note 3 K. v. Kraatz-Koschlau and L. Wohler, Die naturlichen Farbungen der Mincralien. Tschermaks Min. Petr. Mitt., 1899, vol. 18, pp. 304-333.

page 312 note 4 R. J. Strutt, Note on the colour of zircons, and its radioactive origin. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. A, 1914, vol. 89, pp. 405-407.