Ocean Jasper Sphere - Rocky Island Ocean World

This particular piece resembles a vast ocean world, with islands of large brown rocky mountains and beautiful tropical cyan waters. Also included are deep craters in the world.

Note: the display screen may not accurately depict colour - this is quite blue, not really much green.  

Geology:

Ocean Jasper is a rare form of jasper, which is a form of chalcedony. It is also known as 'orbicular jasper' due to the banded ring shape / concentric bands of colour, from "spheroidal igneous inclusions", which just means the weathering/erosion of the rock peels off in layers, like an onion. 

This is quite a rare form of Jasper - hence the price. Found only in the Kabamby region of Northwest Madagascar - this stone was only collected by hand in remote tides and carried back the local village for processing. The prime location - the Mine of Marovato - was fully exhausted in 2006. Though smaller, less attractive deposits surface from time to time - the main bulk of what is available for purchase is just recirculating specimens mined 2 decades ago. 

Since it is only found in one place in the world, and since all the best deposits have already been mined years ago, it is seen as quite rare - which is reflected in the price. 

It formed as a rhyolitic flow, which is a lower temperature lava flow, and contains high amounts of silica. 

The red comes from hematite, a form of oxidized iron. The brown comes from goethite. The yellow-grey can be from clay. 

I like to sit and imagine these as little planets, with details such as green for forests, blue for oceans, swirls of colours for gas giants, etc. There is certainly enough detail to marvel and behold Earth's own "as above, so below".

Note: at this time, stands for the sphere are not provided. I am still searching for a nice bulk order for wooden stands. When I find them, I will send you one at no extra charge. I will reach out to the email you placed the order with when that happens, and if you lose the email then contact us with proof of purchase and I will send them out. I will update this info on my Instagram page and in the newsletter! And if you happen to be a supplier for the wooden sphere stands or know personally of one, I will give you a store credit for the finder's fee.

238 grams / 8.4oz

Diameter: 2.13" / 54.3mm

Origin: Madagascar