Mean content of zirconium at 50 cm depth in mineral soil under forest (ppm Zr)

Factfile

Metallic element belonging to sub-group 4B in the periodic system.

As early as 1789, Martin Heinrich Klaproth in Berlin isolated from zircon the oxide of another new metal, which he named zirconium after the mineral. This metal was also produced in impure form by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1824.

The mean concentration by mass of zirconium in rocks in the Earth's crust is 160-165 ppm, in the oceans 9*10^-6 ppm. Average abundance in igneous rocks is 170 ppm. The arithmetic mean lies around 332 ppm for Swedish forest soils. A median value for 24000 analyses of regolith (mat <0.063 mm) is 457 ppm Zr (SGU). The discrepancy between the average value from MarkInfo and the median value from the Geological Survey of Sweden could be explained by the variable content in the grain sizes of bulk material <2.0 mm and the clay and silt fraction <0.063 mm, respectively.

Zirconium occurs at moderate concentrations in the Earth's crust and is more common than e.g. nickel, zinc and copper. The most common mineral is zircon, ZrSiO₄, which occurs as an accessory mineral in silicic igneous rocks such as granite and syenite. Zircon is resistant to chemical weathering and is found in the heaviest fraction of many sand and sediment deposits (placers). Another mineral is baddeleyite ZrO₂.