This Specimen has been sold.
4.8" Polished Snakeskin Jasper Slab - Western Australia
This is a vibrantly colored slab of snakeskin jasper from Western Australia. It's been cut and on one side polished to a mirror like finish, revealing some very interesting banded patterns. It formed as seams of jaspilite in a banded iron formation called the "Weeli Wooli Formation" which is about 2.5 billion years old.
It comes with an acrylic display stand.
It comes with an acrylic display stand.
Jasper is a term that can be applied to an opaque variety of chalcedony. The opaqueness is due to a higher concentration of impurities mixed with silica/quartz compared to other varieties of silica, such as quartz or agates. Like agate it may form in a wide variety of colors, and is often multi-colored. In most cases, jasper forms when silica-rich fluids permeate throughout a soft sediment or volcanic debris deposit. The fluids then crystallize around the particles/impurities, resulting in a cementation process. Most often, the impurities present determine the coloration of the deposit following solidification, but other factors can play a role in the color of what is now considered a jasper.
SPECIES
Quartz var. Jasper
LOCATION
Turee Creek Cattle Station, Pilbara Region, Western Australia
FORMATION
Weeli Wooli Formation
SIZE
4.8 x 4.2", .25" thick
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#132898