Zircon Zip describes a 12 000 kilometre belt of basaltic gem fields (zircon, sapphire, ruby) along the west Pacific continental margin, from Australasia in the south to far eastern Russia in the north. The project analyses zircon grains from selected gem fields using the SHRIMP facility at Australian National University to determine their trace element compositions and ages of crystallisation (U-Pb SHRIMP method). It also determines ages of basalt eruptions that carried up zircon, using the facilities of Geotrack International in Melbourne (fission track dating method). New data will be combined with previous work to construct a large-scale genetic model for the origin of zircons, sapphires and rubies from these gem fields. The study also has broad implications for the tectonic evolution of the western Pacific continental margin.
Principal Investigators: Dr Lin Sutherland and Dr Ian Graham (Australian Museum), Dr Mark Fanning (Australian National University, Canberra), Dr Paul Green (Geotrack International, Melbourne)
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