T h e story of zirconium chemistry in industry starts in the molten rocks of the earth, for the evidence of the behavior of the zirconium atom in the rocks presages the behaviors encountered in the preparation and isolation of the element or its useful compounds. Zirconium is moderately abundant in magmas and the rocks derived from magmas, its concentration in the crust of the earth being roughly equal to that of carbon, i.e., about 0.0270. As siliceous magmas cool, one of the first phases to crystallize is zircon, Zr02.SiOz. Its formation is favored by a moderate excess of acidic oxides in the magma, and i t is particularly likely to crystallize from magmas which yield granites and syenites. Once the zircon has formed, it is extremely stable, and much of the zircon that has formed in nature has survived hundreds of millions of years of geologic change, through upheavals, weathering, and changes in physical and chemical environment. The tetrrh-dral crystals are easily recognized.Even in ancient times, well-formed colorless and colored zircon crystals which had been freed from the matric-s in which they had developed found their way into the arts and ornamentation. Mention is made of the zircon in both Old and New Testaments