Jaspers - part 2
Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Saturday, March 23, 2013 Under: Mineral of the Month
Nebula stone. To quote from the Nebula Stone website: “There are companies that are trying to capitalize on the popularity of our stone’s name (Nebula Stone) because they have learned it has become very popular around the World. Some unethical companies have intentionally sold Kambaba/Kambamba/Kabamba Jasper/Crocodile rock/Galaxyite from Madagascar and South Africa falsely calling them Nebula Stone. Kambaba Jasper is not Nebula Stone. Nebula Stone is an igneous stone (from within the Earth). Kambaba jasper is a sedimentary stone of fossilized algae. “Kambaba jasper is an algae (a stromatolite - a clump of algae) that fossilized over time turning the algae into stromatolite Jasper. Stromatolite Kambaba Jasper is from the South African Rift that runs from South Africa to Madagascar an island nation off the east coast of Africa. Whatever names they use Kambaba Jasper is still Kambaba Jasper... a sedimentary fossilized algae. Kambaba is usually colored bluish-gray-green with dark and greenish orbs. Nebula Stone is NOT a fossilized algae. Nebula Stone is of igneous origin (from within the Earth). Nebula Stone is NOT from South Africa nor Madagascar. Nebula Stone is from only one location on the planet…………..North America.
"The technical description of the Nebula Stone may not be much fun to read but at least it would be familiar to a professional geologist if it were in your interest to use it in that manner. In plain English stripped of jargon it means that this stone is a fresh and unusual alkalitic volcanic rock composed of the minerals Quartz, Anorthoclase, Riebeckite, Aegirine, Arfedsonite and Zircon. Quartz and Anorthoclase form the groundmass of the gem, while Riebeckite and Aegirine are an integral part of the spherulites. The darker matrix is richer in Riebeckite and also contains more Quartz and Anorthoclase. The light green spherules you see in the stone composed of radiating fibers are riebeckite needles mantled with fine grained Aegirine." "What this means is that the minerals were once molten and glass-like but cooled very slowly, allowing the discrete minerals to begin to separate out and crystallize so the final product had lost its glass-like condition. This allowed the green Nebula eyes (orbicules or spherulites) to form as the different component minerals cooled and crystallized at various rates. “
Kambaba Jasper is simply a newly invented name (source of the name cannot be found) for "Green Stromatolite Jasper" a sedimentary stone that has been around for a long time. Most mineralogists know it as a fossilized algae. During Precambrian times, bacterial mats formed a platform for trapping and cementation of sediment. For photosynthetic bacteria, depletion of carbon dioxide in the surrounding water could cause precipitation of calcium carbonate that along with grains of sediment were then trapped within the sticky layers of mucilage (that formed a film for UV protection) that surrounded the bacterial colonies. Cyanobacteria are also capable of directly precipitating calcium carbonate, with minimal incorporation of sediment within the structure. The bacteria could repeatedly re-colonize the growing hard sedimentary platform, forming layer upon layer in a cyclic repetitive process. The resulting successive layering can assume a myriad shapes dependent upon microorganism and environment, and if left undisturbed by forces of nature could form huge domes and flat laminar structures that grew upward toward the life-sustaining rays of the sun. Cyanobacteria are found to be a primary organism in the formation of microbial carbonates. Prokaryotic bacteria is blue-green algae owning to its pigmentation involved in photosynthesis.
Kambaba jasper is commonly formed by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by microorganisms, especially blue-green algae. (Much reduced information from an article posted on http://www.mindat.org/mesg-55-85320.html
Madagascar's Ocean Jasper - A Lost Treasure Found Again
(Source M. McDonough, Yahoo! Contributor Network July 29, 2008)
During the last few years, a stone known as ocean jasper has become a favorite of mineral collectors. This stone is found in only one place in the world, a site along the northwest coast of the African island Madagascar. The location which holds the Madagascar ocean jasper can only be reached by boat when the tide is low. Ocean jasper is a variety of orbicular jasper, a type of jasper named for the spherical shapes that pattern the stone. Various forms of orbicular jasper can be found in many areas around the world, including the United States. However, the ocean jasper of Madagascar is unique due to the beautiful colors and markings it possesses.
Another aspect of ocean jasper that lends to its mysterious aura is the story of how it was found, or perhaps "found again" would be the more accurate phrase. Stories about the stone have existed since the early 1900s, and a few mineral collectors have passed and traded the ocean jasper since that time. However, all that was known about the stone until recently was that it came from someplace in Madagascar and that the original site of the quarry had been lost.
Ocean jasper made its reappearance to the world at the 2000 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and the story behind its rediscovery was the talk of the crowd. After 45 days of tirelessly searching along the Madagascar coast, an exploration group from the mining company Madagascar Minerals located the ocean jasper deposit. It turns out that the reason the site was lost for so long is that is only visible at low tide. Even today, the location can only be reached by boat at low tide and miners have to plan their trips carefully.
Leopard skin jasper is an opaque sedimentary rock that occurs in shades of red, yellow, or brown as a result of mineral impurities. This once abundant orbicular jasper comes from Mexico.
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living. — Jules-Henri Poincare (1884–1912)
"The technical description of the Nebula Stone may not be much fun to read but at least it would be familiar to a professional geologist if it were in your interest to use it in that manner. In plain English stripped of jargon it means that this stone is a fresh and unusual alkalitic volcanic rock composed of the minerals Quartz, Anorthoclase, Riebeckite, Aegirine, Arfedsonite and Zircon. Quartz and Anorthoclase form the groundmass of the gem, while Riebeckite and Aegirine are an integral part of the spherulites. The darker matrix is richer in Riebeckite and also contains more Quartz and Anorthoclase. The light green spherules you see in the stone composed of radiating fibers are riebeckite needles mantled with fine grained Aegirine." "What this means is that the minerals were once molten and glass-like but cooled very slowly, allowing the discrete minerals to begin to separate out and crystallize so the final product had lost its glass-like condition. This allowed the green Nebula eyes (orbicules or spherulites) to form as the different component minerals cooled and crystallized at various rates. “Kambaba Jasper is simply a newly invented name (source of the name cannot be found) for "Green Stromatolite Jasper" a sedimentary stone that has been around for a long time. Most mineralogists know it as a fossilized algae. During Precambrian times, bacterial mats formed a platform for trapping and cementation of sediment. For photosynthetic bacteria, depletion of carbon dioxide in the surrounding water could cause precipitation of calcium carbonate that along with grains of sediment were then trapped within the sticky layers of mucilage (that formed a film for UV protection) that surrounded the bacterial colonies. Cyanobacteria are also capable of directly precipitating calcium carbonate, with minimal incorporation of sediment within the structure. The bacteria could repeatedly re-colonize the growing hard sedimentary platform, forming layer upon layer in a cyclic repetitive process. The resulting successive layering can assume a myriad shapes dependent upon microorganism and environment, and if left undisturbed by forces of nature could form huge domes and flat laminar structures that grew upward toward the life-sustaining rays of the sun. Cyanobacteria are found to be a primary organism in the formation of microbial carbonates. Prokaryotic bacteria is blue-green algae owning to its pigmentation involved in photosynthesis.Kambaba jasper is commonly formed by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by microorganisms, especially blue-green algae. (Much reduced information from an article posted on http://www.mindat.org/mesg-55-85320.html
Madagascar's Ocean Jasper - A Lost Treasure Found Again
(Source M. McDonough, Yahoo! Contributor Network July 29, 2008)
During the last few years, a stone known as ocean jasper has become a favorite of mineral collectors. This stone is found in only one place in the world, a site along the northwest coast of the African island Madagascar. The location which holds the Madagascar ocean jasper can only be reached by boat when the tide is low. Ocean jasper is a variety of orbicular jasper, a type of jasper named for the spherical shapes that pattern the stone. Various forms of orbicular jasper can be found in many areas around the world, including the United States. However, the ocean jasper of Madagascar is unique due to the beautiful colors and markings it possesses.Another aspect of ocean jasper that lends to its mysterious aura is the story of how it was found, or perhaps "found again" would be the more accurate phrase. Stories about the stone have existed since the early 1900s, and a few mineral collectors have passed and traded the ocean jasper since that time. However, all that was known about the stone until recently was that it came from someplace in Madagascar and that the original site of the quarry had been lost.
Ocean jasper made its reappearance to the world at the 2000 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and the story behind its rediscovery was the talk of the crowd. After 45 days of tirelessly searching along the Madagascar coast, an exploration group from the mining company Madagascar Minerals located the ocean jasper deposit. It turns out that the reason the site was lost for so long is that is only visible at low tide. Even today, the location can only be reached by boat at low tide and miners have to plan their trips carefully.
Leopard skin jasper is an opaque sedimentary rock that occurs in shades of red, yellow, or brown as a result of mineral impurities. This once abundant orbicular jasper comes from Mexico.The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living. — Jules-Henri Poincare (1884–1912)
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