Color:
Brown to a reddish brown, but other colors are possible

Durability:
Good, but care should be taken as the stone can be brittle

Localities:
Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka

Zircon is a zirconium silicate that contains trace amounts of the radioactive minerals hafnium, uranium and thorium. Over time, these radioactive components break down the lattice of the crystal, eventually (over tens of thousands of years) destroying the crystal, leaving it with an amorphous structure and a dark pithy appearance. Zircons that are young and unaffected by radioactivity are termed "high" zircons. These stones are transparent golden, yellowish-green and greenish-brown in color with incredibly high dispersion. "High" zircons can be heated to temperatures greater than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and become colorless or blue. These highly dispersive colorless stones have long been used as diamond substitutes. That's why the name zircon has the connotation of synthetic or imitation. It was used to imitate a diamond, but the stone is indeed naturally occurring. It should not be confused with the synthetic cubic zirconium, which is in no way related to zircon.