Tell me about zircon treatments!

[pokerface]

I know that zircon is often subjected to heat treatment, and that this is considered normal for the stone. Any new-fangled treatments I should be aware of? Is there any such thing as synthetic zircon (which would register as zircon on a Presidium gem tester)? I'm seeing some really attractive & unusual shades of green zircon pop up and wonder if I should be cautious or pouncing. Thank you!

 

[T L]

The only treatment I know of on any zircon is heating. As for green zircon, I know of no such treatment. Green zircon are fascinating stones, as they contain uranium, but not enough to harm you.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Like T L, I'd only heard of heating as a treatment for zircon, and that greens were naturally irradiated. But, out of curiosity, I looked it up. This article says some colorless zircons are treated with irradiation to create pinks. I saw another item from UC Berkeley that said blues were sometimes irradiated as well. I have no idea how accurate this info is though.

Zapping zircons

<xhtml:span xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">If you can make a deep red gemstone by irradiating any one of several naturally transparent, colorless crystals, does it matter ...

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