Baddeleyite (ZrO2) is an unusual accessory mineral in two gabbros from Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. One of the rocks also contains zircon (ZrSiO4). Origin of baddeleyite by impact heating and breakdown of zircon or, alternatively, of breakdown of metamict zircon trapped in the gabbroic melt from the sandstone country rocks, is rejected. In analogy to its occurrence as a late stage differentiation product in lunar basaltic rocks, baddeleyite in gabbroic rocks from Axel Heiberg is also interpreted as a primary late stage magmatic differentiate of the gabbroic melt.

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