jaspers---Continued from the newsletter tab....

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 Noreena Jasper:  It comes from Pilbara Region of Western Australia. It is silicified mudstone that is renowned for its patterns of rusty red or somewhat mustard yellow and cream tints.  It is estimated that Noreena Jasper is around 2687-2765 million years old. 

 Ocean jasper: Ocean Jasper is a trade name for a multicolored stone from Madagascar, typically with spherical patterning. Although commonly described as orbicular jasper, the most recent research suggests it is the mineral chalcedony instead. Ocean Jasper only comes from one place in the world, northwestern Madagascar. It is found in the Analalava district of the Sofia region in the former province of Mahajanga. There are actually two different deposits, about ten miles apart:  Continued...

 1: Near the village of Marovato, directly on the shoreline, known for its multicolored orbs, translucency, and druzy. (The name Marovato means "many stones" in Malagasy.)  
 2: Near the village of Kabamby, about a mile and a half inland, known for its consistent green and yellow colors, opaqueness, and geometric patterning created by contact between orbs. (The name "Kabamby" does not translate into anything else in Malagasy.) 

 Oolitic red jasper:  this hematite-pigmented jasper, which I have found constituting beach pebbles along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior could be fashioned into striking beads, earrings, small pendants, etc. This rock certainly has a good potential so far as use as a gem-rock IF the source rock is found to be available in quantities sufficient for economical recovery. 

 Opal Jasper: Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica. Because of its amorphous character, it is classed as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are classed as minerals. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, jasper's and rhyolite. There are two broad classes of opal: precious and common. Precious opal displays play-of-color (iridescence), common opal does not. The jasper's having an opal mix is almost always common opal. 

 Orbicular jasper:  A variety of jasper with sporadic orbicules, roughly spherical zones, with one or more colors different from the color of the main mass. In highly silicified rhyolite or tuff, quartz and feldspar crystallize in radial aggregates of needle-like crystals which provide the basis or seed for the orbicular structure seen in this kind of jasper. One noteworthy source is Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County, California. See also kinradite, oregonite, Owyhee jasper, ocean jasper and poppy-patterned jasper (etc.). 

 Oregonite: trade name sometimes given to kinradite from the area near Grants Pass, Oregon. 

 Outback Jasper: It occurs as a narrow seam within an outcrop of banded chert in dwest region of Western Australia near the small gold mining centre of Payne's Find. 

 Owyhee jasper: (pronounced Oh-WAH-hee), comes from the rugged Owyhee mountain area situated on the Idaho-Oregon border, just south of Homedale, Idaho. Owyhee Jasper is another one of the very popular picture jaspers, known for their depictions of mountain or desert scenery, with or without the "blue sky"! There are now about 6 different varieties that fall under the Owyhee Jasper name. 

 Pastelite jasper:  Is characterized by pastel colors --e.g., pinks, light greens and tans -- that appear as wavy lines in articles fashioned from it. This jasper is rather widespread in western United States.   

 Peanut Wood Jasper: Peanut wood is a variety of petrified wood that is usually dark brown to black in color. It is recognized by its white-to-cream-color markings that are ovoid in shape and about the size of a peanut. It received its name from these peanut-size markings. It is a fossil gemmaterial from Western Australia where the Conifor trees fell into the rivers were eaten by shipworms leaving boreholes that werefilled in. Peanut Wood Jasper can include other stones such as quartz, pyrite or even opal.   

 Petrified wood: Much petrified wood is largely, if not wholly, jasper; see Xyloid jasper and FOSSILIFEROUS ROCKS entry. 

 Picture jasper: The name applied to scenic jasper included in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institute), Washington, D.C.   

 Apache jasper is called a scenic or picture jasper. But it is actually a rhyolite found in the Mimbres Valley, New Mexico. 

 Polychrome Jasper: It is a relatively new find and has only been made available since 2008. It's found in the deserts of Madagascar, but the deposit is very small.   

 Poppy-patterned jasper (poppy jasper and poppy stone): A trade name(s) for orbicular jasper that contains sporadic relatively bright red, orange or yellow orbicules, typically within a yellowish green background, from the Paradise Valley and Llagas Creek, California. 

 Pudding-stone Jasper: A conglomerate, which is also denominated, pebble jasper conglomerate. 

 Riband jasper (also ribbon jasper): A jasper type with bands of different colors. Not to be confused with jasper that is banded with iron or chalcedony. 

 Rosetta Jasper: An aggregate of micrograndular quartz and/or chalcedony and other minerals from Africa. 

 Russian jasper:  Is an opaque rock of virtually any color stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash. There are some good green minerals from here too.

 Scenic jasper (picture jasper): Typically light tan jasper with dark brown lines that, when cut in certain directions, exhibit patterns that resemble natural panoramas of, for example, rolling topography and/or shorelines. A particularly noteworthy example is the jasperized volcanic ash, sometimes referred to as Biggs jasper, from Biggs Junction, Sherman County, Oregon as well as Dechutes, Succor Creek and Owyhee. 

 Stone Canyon Jasper: A brecciated jasper yellow to mustard yellow jasper glued together with nice white base agate. It may also contain tan, maroon, or green material often in the same piece. It is found in the coastal mountains of central California on a private ranch out side of Parkfield.

 Succor Creek Jasper:  Succor Creek is a 69.4-mile-long tributary of the Snake River in the states of Idaho and Oregon. The creek begins in the Owyhee Mountains in Owyhee County, Idaho. 

 Swiss lapis: blue (apparently dyed) jasper, sometimes marketed as a lapis lazuli substitute. 

 Vabanite: Reddish brown jasper with yellow flecks and/or streaks from California 

 Variegated  jasper: The name sometimes given to rather high-quality jasper from the San Francisco region, California. 

 Wascoite: Wascoite is generally thought of as a picture jasper. Formed in concentric, irregular circles with shades of tan, lavender, yellow, pink, and red. There was also a brown & white variety, referred to as a bedded jasper from the Wasco, OR. 

 Wildhorse Canyon Jasper: It's Picture Jasper with scenic features of blue, brown and tan. From Owyhee county in southern Idaho.   

  Wilkite (Willow Creek jasper): Willow Creek Jasper is known for its subtle pastel colors of yellow, purple, pink, and green; and it’s streamer patterns, and egg or orb patterns. Premium quality Willow Creek is unmatched. It takes an extreme high gloss… like liquid glass. People who have worked Willow Creek say it has pastel colors and is somewhat soft and delicate in nature…perhaps, but top premium quality Willow has dramatic coloring, and incredible patterning. Along with Bruneau Jasper, I consider it the purest porcelain of the porcelain jasper's.   

 Wonderstone: a silicified rhyolite rock that is also called rhyolite jasper. The Montana Rhyolite Jasper material below is from a quarry just south of the Sweetwater Road between the abandoned Anderson Ranch and the Ruby Reservoir, SW of Alder.   

Xyloid jasper:  petrified wood that consists largely of jasper - i.e., jasperized wood 

 Zebra jasper: dark brown jasper with lighter brown to nearly off-white steaks from India and South Africa.