Field work in Scotland involved dealing with lots of rain, sheep, whiskey distilleries and fantastic rocks. Whiskey barrels at the Ben Nevis distillery in Glen Coe. Ben Nevis looms in the background. The convectional use of zircons has been in dating rocks. Uranium has radiogenic isotopes that are used in dating methods.
More recent work shows that zircons have other uses too.
They are very useful in stable isotope studies. My master's research examined the oxygen systematics of zircons in granites on Skye and other Scottish islands. Because zircons often tend to be very resistant to oxygen isotope exchange in events occuring after their crystallization they can provide an insight to geological conditions at the time of their formation. Most other minerals, especially the feldspars and quartz common in granites are more prone to resetting their oxygen values in metamorphic or hydrothermal events that occur after the granite crystallizes. Thus, zircons are an incredible tool in deciphering the geologic past.