Some experimentally determined zircon/liquid partition coefficients for the rare earth elements

Partition coefficients for La, Sm, Ho and Lu (REE) between synthetic zircon and felsic, peralkaline liquid were determined at 800°C and 2 kbar water pressure by adding small amounts of REE to experimental charges and analyzing zircons in the quenched runs with an electron microprobe. The preferred zircon/liquid partition coefficients obtained by this method are: La, 1.4–2.1; Sm, 26–40; Ho, 340+; Lu, 72–126. These results confirm the strong heavy rare earth enrichment discovered by Nagasawa (1970) in zircon separates from dacites and granites, but they also introduce a modification to the supposed zircon/liquid partition coefficient pattern. The heavy REE end of the pattern is concave downward, in qualitative resemblance to some garnet/liquid and hornblende/liquid REE partitioning patterns.