Zircon microstriators in the sand of auriferous Andean tills: fine tools and noble metals

Chemically inert and physically hard minerals, of which zircon is universally present and usually abundant, are minor but important components of glacial gold and tin placer deposits. Zircons and other much less common resistant minerals inflict major damage on light minerals, of which quartz is the dominant, chemically resistant member. Because of its sharpness inherited from a strong crystal morphology, and overall prismatic form, zircon is especially important as an abrasive mineral in glacial systems. Its chemically inert nature, its dominancc in terms of hardness over light minerals, and its abundance amongst other hard minerals makes it unique and important as a microstriator. Transported in a highly viscous glacial medium, it is capable of damaging other softer grains with aggressive crushing, chipping, striating, abrading and polishing processes. These occur in both coarse-grained gravelly sand and in fine-grained clayey silt matrices at the base of the icc. Zircon grains tend to serve many functions, initially as inclusion tools in larger feldspar grains and as 'studs' in quartzite grains. Wearing first on points, and later, following liberation, they assume a shape by honing, faceting and fracturing as tools and as grit that allows them to act as microstriators, inflicting damage on other particles in the basal ice. With a hardness of 7.5, lacking significant cleavage, and exhibiting strong crystal form. the finer-grained zircons appear to abrade and striate quartz (hardness 7.0). feldspars (hardness 6.0). garnets (hardness 6.5–7.5), and gold (hardness 2.5-3.0). A detailed study of Bolivian tills shows the dominant form of the zircon striator to be an elongate, pencil shape (euhedral polygonal prism with sharp, pyramidal terminations) that shows various degrees of abrasion, and ranges from wide grains with dull edges to narrow grains with sharp edges (typical pencil form).