Green UV fluorescence in zircon spray
Zircon : Zr(SiO4), Ankerite-Dolomite Series, Albite : Na(AlSi3O8)
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Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
| 1 | Fit image to screen |
| 2 | Fill screen with image |
| 3 | Switch to 3D display of stereo pair |
| 4 | Switch left/right images in 3D mode |
| 5 | Display at full resolution |
| <, > | Make background darker/lighter |
| H or ? | Show/hide this help page |
| P | Play/Pause Video or Animation |
| [, ] | Backwards/forwards one frame (Animation only) |
| space | Hide/dim titles and buttons |
| up arrow | Show information box |
| down arrow | Hide information box |
| left arrow | Previous child photo |
| right arrow | Next child photo |
| shift + left arrow | Previous image on the page |
| shift + right arrow | Next image on the page |
minID: E9V-5X9
Zircon : Zr(SiO4), Ankerite-Dolomite Series, Albite : Na(AlSi3O8)
This image has been released to the public domain and may be used freely.
Locality: ⓘ Poudrette quarry (De-Mix quarry; Demix quarry; Uni-Mix quarry; Carrière Mont Saint-Hilaire; MSH), Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada
Field of View: 5.2 mm
Dec 2022: I have decided to make this vertical format comparison photo a child photo. The new parent photo uses the Mindat interactive comparison tool with the same images. There are pros and cons with both methods of comparison. For the time being, I am keeping them both - with essentially the same text.
July 2022: This specimen defies credibility, yet it is from a find that was analyzed via EDS and XRD. (See [https://www.mindat.org/photo-452783.html] for details and one of the EDS scans.) When I got the first EDS results in early 2013, I couldn’t believe them, but subsequent analysis at Laurentian U. and CMN confirmed zircon (possibly with very small included thorite grains). But the green fluorescent response shown here was another total surprise.
That said it should be noted that at this time I seem to have only two specimens from this find left in my collection. Only one of them glows green (both MW &SW). (The other one glows weak cream/yellow SW only.) Could this be something else? I don’t think so. Originally I had perhaps 8 or 9 of these, four of which were analyzed, all with “zircon” as the result. While the appearance of these foliated aggregates varies somewhat, from pearly such as this partly unbroken one [https://www.mindat.org/photo-557922.html], to chalky as on this specimen, they all seem to be fundamentally the same. In fact, the other specimen I have left has 6-7 groups of folia, one of which has “pearly” parts, and the rest of which are visually indistinguishable from the one on this specimen.
Why does this one glow, while none of the others do? I don’t know. In such cases a coating is always a suspect. But then why does only this one glow? And how is it hat the “coating” is not affecting anything else?
The strangeness of this specimen doesn’t end with the zircon. Notice that the background also glows. The violet-bluish glow is from albite. (At this point I have not decided if that is a “real” fluorescent respone for MSH albite or just a reflection of visible light leaking from the LED flashlight used.) It is the burgundy red glow that’s unusual. It is coming from an epitactic crust on the underlying siderite. Analysis of another specimen showed borderline ankerite-ferroan dolomite. See [https://www.mindat.org/photo-1229642.html] for another example and more details (including an EDS scan).
The folia glow green under both MW & SW. The MW response is stronger, but that may be just because the MW LED “flashlight” that I use appears to have a stronger output that the SW one. The “ankerite” glows only under MW. The folia are brighter than the “ankerite”, but both are easily visible with the Mw flashlight 10 cm from the specimen in a darken room. So this response isn’t just a mirage.
Collected: 1994
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