Baddeleyite mineral
Baddeleyite is the natural monoclinic zirconium oxide mineral species ZrO2, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from elemental zirconium, zircon (ZrSiO4), synthetic zirconia products and other ZrO2 polymorphs. Huraiová, Hurai and Konečný (2011) characterized baddeleyite associated with a zoned zircon crystal separated from redeposited sediments of the Hajnáčka-Kostná dolina basaltic maar, southern Slovakia. Cathodoluminescence and backscattered-electron images show baddeleyite in melt pockets and in a reaction rim intergrown with sanidine and anorthoclase. Their Table 2 reports six representative baddeleyite microprobe analyses containing 96.65-98.27 wt.% ZrO2 and 0.99-1.06 wt.% HfO2, alongside analyses of the distinct host zircon. These oxide-equivalent specimen compositions are not elemental-metal percentages, mineral-wide purity or resource grades. The study uses microscopy and electron microprobe chemistry; it does not report a new diffraction refinement. Formation by reaction of zircon with Si-poor, Al-rich melt is the authors' geological interpretation, not a controlled transformation experiment. The reported absence of light rare earth elements is bounded by analytical detection limits, not proof of zero concentration. This identity and natural-occurrence evidence does not establish microbial extraction, recovery, industrial deployment or a dated criticality designation for the mineral.
Sources & References
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ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; PDF page 1 field definitions and page 19 Baddeleyite row: ZrO2, G, 1893, Sri Lanka. The historical year is not a unique species accession or the locality of the 2011 study.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-12) -
huraiova2011: Huraiová M, Hurai V and Konečný P (2011). Nález baddeleyitu (ZrO2) v bazaltovom maare pri Hajnáčke (južné Slovensko) / Finding of baddeleyite (ZrO2) in basaltic maar near Hajnáčka (southern Slovakia). Mineralia Slovaca 43, 255-262. Complete eight-page original inspected, including Figures 1-5 and Tables 1-2; methods pages 257-258, detection limits page 258, Table 2 page 259 and English summary page 262. Table 2 oxide labels govern interpretation of the text's abbreviated element names; the text and table differ on the lower TiO2 value.
https://www.geology.sk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MS_3_2011_04_Huraiova-et-al.pdf (accessed 2026-10-12) -
handbook_baddeleyite: Handbook of Mineralogy, Baddeleyite, version 1 (2001-2005), one page. Secondary context for monoclinic mineral identity. The cell-data section explicitly identifies its parameters as synthetic; those values are not measurements of the Hajnáčka specimen.
https://handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/baddeleyite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-12T06:45:08Z |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | create | Added the baddeleyite mineral identity and independently bounded natural-specimen context from the complete 2011 primary study and current IMA authority. Preserved oxide denominators, detection and structural-evidence limits; deferred inaccessible historical sources and hafnon, without inheriting criticality or microbial mechanisms. |
Record source: data/records/baddeleyite.yaml