#JASPER ROCK SKIN#

We decided to call the material a jasper because rhyolitic patterns have been associated with the jasper category in the past and because 'jasper' is listed as the mineral resource in the mining claims owned by Paul Obenich. Ocean Jasper is an agate by the standard definition (agate being translucent and jasper being opaque). To the best of my knowledge there has never been a rock referred to as an 'orbicular agate'. All of these rhyolites have been sold or marketed as jasper so there is precedent for these rhyolite patterns being associated with the word 'jasper'. The word orbicular refers to the spherical forms found in many rhyolites. The material is categorized as an orbicular jasper. I came up with about 10 different names and we chose 'Ocean Jasper'. Paul Obenich and I discussed at length the name for this rock. The Name: Ocean Jasper®Īll work done by hand with hammers, picks, and bare feet! Ocean Jasper fits the description of a truly new jasper. It is rare indeed that a really new material is found. New discoveries brought to market are usually new deposits of an already known material. So much so that I kept asking Owen.'Were those 2 rocks we saw coated with something or were they polished?' But my brief encounter with this rock led me to believe that it far surpassed the quality of all the others.

#JASPER ROCK SKIN#

Other rocks of this type have been in the market before, most notably Rainforest Jasper from Australia, Leopard Skin Jasper from Mexico and the famous Poppy Jasper from California. I recognized the pattern as similar to that found in a number of silica rich rhyolites.

On the way to Quartzsite I could not get the image of those two rocks out of my mind. My friend Owen was with me and he saw the samples also. I was in Tucson early, packing my truck to go to Quartzsite when Paul Obenich of Madagascar Minerals came by and said, 'Gene, look at this new rock.' Every year new rock and gem finds are brought to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show in Arizona.

Jasper rock