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Formula: ZrO2
Simple oxide of zirconium, baddeleyite group
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 5.4 to 6.02 measured 5.83 calculated
Hardness: 6½
Streak: White to brownish white
Colour: Colourless to yellow, green, greenish or reddish brown, brown, iron-black; colourless to brown in transmitted light
Common impurities: Ca,Fe,Hf,Si,Ti
Environments
Plutonic igneous environments
Carbonatites
Gem gravels
Extraterrestrial environments
Baddeleyite occurs as an accessory mineral in carbonatites and
kimberlites (Mindat, HOM), and in
syenite, dolerite,
gabbro and anorthosite
(Mindat, HOM); it is detrital in gem gravels (Mindat, Webmin, HOM) and has also been found in lunar
basalt,
tektites and
meteorites
(Mindat, HOM, Dana).
Localities
At the Jacupiranga mine, Cajati, São Paulo, Brazil, baddeleyite occurs in an
ultramafic plutonic rock with
ilmenite,
zirkelite, magnetite,
apatite and perovskite
(Dana, HOM).
At Axel Heiberg Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, some samples of baddeleyite-bearing
gabbro have been collected
(AM 59.249-253).
At the Francon quarry, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, baddeleyite occurs very rarely as aggregates to 1 cm across in
cavities rich in globular and powdery hematite. It is sometimes found as
a powdery deposit on remnants of partially dissolved crystals of weloganite,
and is probably derived from hydrothermal alteration of weloganite.
Sometimes baddeleyite is intimately intergrown with grains of zircon.
Baddeleyite is an intermediate to late-stage mineral associated with
hematite, dawsonite,
quartz, calcite,
kaolinite, baryte,
fluorite, ankerite,
celestine, rarely weloganite and
very rarely paratacamite
(Minrec 37.1.20).
At Mount Somma, Italy, baddeleyite occurs in a sanidine-bearing rock
with fluorite, nepheline,
pyrochlore and allanite
(Dana, HOM).
At the Palabora mine, Loolekop, Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa, baddeleyite occurs in a carbonatite with
magnetite, diopside,
apatite and
phlogopite (Dana AM 40.275-282).
The carbonatites are composed of large irregular fragments of magnetite,
calcite, chondrodite and
apatite, with smaller amounts of
phlogopite, chalcocite,
chalcopyrite and thorianite.
Baddeleyite is a minor constituent
(AM 40.275-282).
At the Poços de Caldas alkaline complex, Minas Gerais, Brazil, baddeleyite occurs in a carbonatite
(Dana).
At the type locality, Kollonnagam, Rakwana, Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, baddeleyite
occurs in gem gravels with zircon,
tourmaline, spinel and several
rare earth minerals
(Dana).
At the Isabella Mine, Cripple Creek District, Teller county, Colorado, USA, baddeleyite has been reported as
very small crystals in the groundmass of a phonolitic -
tephrite dike
(Minrec 36.2.163).
Near Bozeman, Gallatin county, Montana, USA, baddeleyite occurs in a
corundum syenite
(Dana)
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