Study on Gemmological Characteristics and Chemical Composition of Zircon from Changle, Shandong Province

In this paper, the occurrence characteristics of the zircon from Changle, Shandong Province are introduced briefly on the basis of the spot investigation of the author and the previous work of other researchers. The physical properties, the internal and external features and the chemical compositions are studied by using the conventional gemmological methods, X-ray fluorescence analysis(XRF)and LA-ICP-MS. The results show that the zircon generally has good transparency and it is big grain with brown of different shades, mostly dark brown. The main chemical compositions are ZrO₂ and SiO₂. The trace elements are composed of impurity elements which are mainly Fe, Ti, P, Sc, Ni and so on, radioactive elements such as U and Th, and rare earth elements. Most of Th / U ratios are higher than 0.4( with one exception). REEs are characterized by yttrium group and rich in HREEs. The zircon has pronounced positive Ce anomalies and slightly negligible Eu anomalies. In addition, the specific radioactivity of radioactive elements of zircon from Changle is very low. All the characteristics mentioned above show that the zircon from Changle is a gem resource with its value in use.