Editing Jasper

{{about|the mineral|other uses}}{{Redirect|Jaspis|the genus of sea sponges|Ancorinidae}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{short description|Chalcedony variety colored by iron oxide}}

{{Infobox mineral
| name              = Jasper
| boxwidth          = 
| boxbgcolor        = 
| image             = Jasper outcrop in the Bucegi Mountains.jpg
| imagesize         = 280px
| caption           = Jasper outcrop, [[Bucegi Mountains, Romania]]
| alt               = 
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| struct caption    = 
| struct imagesize  = 
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| SMILES            = 
| Jmol              = 
| category          = Aggregate rock (impure [[chalcedony]] variety)
| formula           = SiO<sub>2</sub> (with varying impurities)
| molweight         = 
| strunz            = 
| dana              = 
| system            = Hexagonal
| class             =
| symmetry          = 
| unit cell         = 
| color             = 
| colour            = Most commonly red, but may be yellow, brown, green or (rarely) blue
| habit             = massive
| twinning          = 
| cleavage          = Indiscernible
| fracture          = concoidal
| tenacity          = 
| toughness         = 
| mohs              = 6.5–7
| luster            = Vitreous
| streak            = 
| diaphaneity       = Opaque
| gravity           = 2.5–2.9
| density           = 
| polish            = 
| opticalprop       = 
| refractive        = 1.54–2.65
| birefringence     = 0.009
| pleochroism       = 
| 2V                = 
| dispersion        = 
| extinction        = 
| length fast/slow  = 
| fluorescence      = 
| absorption        = 
| melt              = 
| Curie temp        = 
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}}
'''Jasper''', an [[Aggregate (geology)|aggregate]] of [[microgranular]] [[quartz]] and/or [[cryptocrystalline]] [[chalcedony]] and other mineral phases,<ref>{{cite web |title=Chalcedony |department=Gemstones |series=Commodity minerals |website=USGS.gov |publisher=[[U.S. Geological Survey]] |url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gemstones/sp14-95/chalcedony.html }}</ref><ref name=Kostov>{{cite conference |last=Kostov |first=R.I. |year=2010 |title=Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks |conference=Archaeometry Workshop |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=209–213 |url=http://www.ace.hu/am/2010_3/AM-10-03-RK.pdf}}</ref> is an [[Opacity (optics)|opaque]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Jasper |website=Mindat.org |url=http://www.mindat.org/min-2082.html }}</ref> impure variety of [[Silicon dioxide|silica]], usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to [[Iron#Chemistry and compounds|iron(III)]] [[Inclusion (mineral)|inclusions]]. Jasper breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as a [[gemstone]]. It can be highly polished and is used for items such as vases, [[Seal (emblem)|seals]], and [[Decorative box#Snuff box|snuff boxes]]. The [[density]] of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9&nbsp;g/cm<sup>3</sup>.<ref>{{cite web |first=R.V. |last=Dietrich |date=23 May 2005 |title=Jasper |series=GemRocks |website=cst.cmich.edu |publisher=Central Michigan University |url=http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jasper.htm |access-date=16 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309113547/http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jasper.htm |archive-date=9 March 2012 }}</ref> [[Jaspillite]] is a [[banded iron formation|banded-iron-formation]] rock that often has distinctive bands of jasper.

==Etymology and history==
[[File:Egyptian - Finger Ring with a Representation of Ptah - Walters 42387 - Side A.jpg|upright|thumb|Movable Egyptian ring in green jasper and gold, from 664 to 322&nbsp;BC or later (Late Period),<ref>{{cite web |title= Finger ring with a representation of Ptah |publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]] |url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/15717 }}</ref> the [[Walters Art Museum]]]]
[[File:Red jasper amulet HARGM7392.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Amulet]] of scarlet jasper, provenance unknown, [[Royal Pump Room, Harrogate]]]]
[[File:Necklace And Pendant (possibly France), ca. 1870 (CH 18423329).jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Relief|Low-relief]] sphinx pendant, red jasper, pearl and enamel, French, circa 1870]]
The name means "spotted or speckled stone," and is derived via [[Old French]] {{Lang|fro|jaspre}} (variant of [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] ''jaspe'') and [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|iaspidem}} (nom. {{Lang|la|iaspis}}) from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{math|ἴασπις}} ''iaspis'' (feminine noun),<ref>{{cite web |title=iaspis |id=Strong's G2393 |department=Lexicon |website=Blue Letter Bible |url=http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2393&t=KJV |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160522180056/http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2393&t=KJV |archive-date=22 May 2016}}</ref> from an [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic language]] (cf. [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''{{Lang|he|ישפה}}'' {{Transliteration|he|yashpeh}}, [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''yashupu'').<ref>{{cite web |title=Jasper |website=etymonline.com  |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=jasper}}</ref> This Semitic etymology is believed to be unrelated to that of the English given name [[Jasper (given name)|Jasper]], which is of [[Persian language|Persian]] origin,<ref name=OxfordJasper>{{cite book |last1=Hanks |first1=Patrick |last2=Hardcastle |first2=Kate |last3=Hodges |first3=Flavia |date=2006 |title=A Dictionary of First Names |edition=2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198610601 |page=138}}</ref>{{efn|
"Jasper: The usual English form of the name assigned in Christian folklore to one of [[Biblical Magi|the three magi or 'wise men']], who brought gifts to the infant Christ at his birth (Matthew 2:1). The name {{grey|[Jasper]}} does not appear in the Bible, and is first found in medieval tradition. It seems to be ultimately of Persian origin, from a word meaning 'treasurer'. There is probably no connection with the English vocabulary word ''jasper'' denoting a gemstone, which is of {{nobr|Semitic origin." — Hanks, Hardcastle, & Hodges (2006)<ref name=OxfordJasper/>}}
}} though the Persian word for the mineral jasper is also ''yashum'' ([[:fa:یشم|یَشم]]).

Green jasper was used to make [[bow drill]]s in [[Mehrgarh]] between 4th and {{nobr|5th millennium BC.}}<ref name=Kulke&R.>{{cite book |first1=Hermann |last1=Kulke |author1-link=Hermann Kulke |first2=Dietmar |last2=Rothermund |author2-link=Dietmar Rothermund |year=2004 |title=A History of India |publisher=Routledge |page=22 |isbn=0-415-32920-5}}</ref> Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and [[Latin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/jasper.html |publisher=International Colored Gemstone Association |series=Gem by Gem |title=Jasper}}</ref> On [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Crete]], jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800&nbsp;BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of [[Knossos]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |date=14 April 2008 |title=Knossos fieldnotes |journal=The Modern Antiquarian |url=http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes}}</ref>

Although the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz, the ancient ''iaspis'' was a stone of considerable translucency including [[nephrite]].<ref name=Kostov/> The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared to [[emerald]] and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'' as being clear and green. The jasper of the ancients probably included stones which would now be classed as [[chalcedony]], and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to the modern [[chrysoprase]]. The Hebrew word may have designated a green jasper.<ref name=Rudler-1911-EB>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Jasper |author=Rudler, Frederick William |inline=1}}</ref> [[Flinders Petrie]] suggested that the ''odem'' – the first stone on the [[Priestly breastplate|High Priest's breastplate]] – was a red jasper, whilst ''tarshish'', the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper.{{refn|{{cite book |title=Hastings's Dict. Bible |year=1902 |postscript=,}} cited in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911).<ref name=Rudler-1911-EB/>.}}
[[File:Harappa red jasper male torso.jpg|thumb|upright|Male torso carved from red jasper, [[Bronze Age]], [[Harappa]], [[Indus Valley civilisation]], Pakistan]]

==Types==
[[File:Jasper vase WB.71.jpg|thumb|left|Jewel-set vase carved from red-and-yellow jasper. Probable provenance: German, early 17th century, [[Waddesdon Bequest]], [[British Museum]]]]
[[File:Jasper goat basket (Russia, 19 c.).jpg|thumb|Goat-headed basket carved from red jasper. Russian, late 19th century, [[Kremlin Armoury]]]]

Jasper is an [[Opacity (optics)|opaque]] rock of virtually any colour stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash.  Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica-rich [[sediment]] or [[volcanic ash]]. [[Hydrothermal circulation]] is generally thought to be required in the formation of jasper.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jasper |url=https://www.prehistoricoregon.com/learn/what-is-a-mineral/jasper/ |access-date=10 June 2022 |website=Prehistoric Online |language=en-US}}</ref>

Jasper can be modified by the diffusion of minerals along discontinuities providing the appearance of vegetative growth, i.e., [[Dendrite (crystal)|dendritic]]. The original materials are often fractured and/or distorted, after deposition, into diverse patterns, which are later filled in with other colorful minerals. Weathering, with time, will create intensely colored superficial rinds.

The classification and naming of jasper varieties presents a challenge.<ref>{{cite web |title=World of Jaspers |editor=Gamma, Hans |type=main |website=worldofjaspers.com |url=http://www.worldofjaspers.com/index.html}}</ref> Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains; many are fanciful, such as "forest fire" or "rainbow", while others are descriptive, such as "autumn" or "porcelain". A few are designated by the place of origin such as a brown Egyptian or red African.

===Banded iron formations ===
Jasper is the main component in the silica-rich parts of [[banded iron formation]]s (BIFs) which indicate low, but present, amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water such as during the [[Great Oxygenation Event|Great Oxidation Event]] or snowball earths.<ref>{{Cite book|title=How to Build a Habitable Planet|last=Broecker|first=W.S.|year=1985}}</ref>  The red bands are microcrystalline red chert, also called jasper.

===Picture jaspers<span class="anchor" id="picture"></span>===
[[File:Jasper earrings.jpg|thumb|Earrings of polished "leopard-spot jasper" (actually a type of spherulitic [[rhyolite]])]]

Picture jaspers exhibit combinations of patterns resulting in what appear to be scenes or images, when seen on a cut section. Such patterns include banding from flow or depositional patterns (from water or wind), as well as dendritic or color variations. Diffusion from a center produces a distinctive [[Orbicular jasper|orbicular]] appearance, i.e., leopard skin jasper or linear banding from a fracture as seen in [[Liesegang rings (geology)|liesegang]] jasper. Healed, fragmented rock produces [[breccia]]ted (broken) jasper.

While these "picture jaspers" can be found all over the world, specific colors or patterns are unique to the geographic region from which they originate. One source of the stone is [[Indonesia]], especially in [[Purbalingga]] district. From the US, [[Oregon]]'s [[Biggs jasper]] and [[Idaho]]'s [[Bruneau jasper]] from the [[Bruneau River]] canyon are particularly fine examples. Other examples can be seen at [[Ynys Llanddwyn]] in [[Wales]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jasper gemological information |website=gemsociety.org |publisher=International Gem Society (IGS) |url=http://www.gemsociety.org/article/jasper-gem-information/ |access-date=16 January 2015}}</ref> A blue-green jasper occurs in a deposit at Ettutkan Mountain, [[Sibay|Staryi Sibay]], [[Bashkortostan]], Russia. (The town of Sibay, in the far south of the [[Ural Mountains]], near the border with [[Kazakhstan]], is noted for its colossal, open-cast [[copper]] mine.)<ref>{{cite web |title=[green] Jasper from Ettutkanskoe jasper deposit, Ettutkan Mt, Staryi Sibay, Bashkortostan, Russia |website=Mindat.org |url=https://www.mindat.org/locentry-707656.html  |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref>

===Basanite<span class="anchor" id="basanite"></span> and other types of touchstone===
<blockquote>Basanite is a deep velvety-black variety of amorphous quartz, of a slightly tougher and finer grain than jasper, and less splintery than hornstone. It was the ''Lydian stone'' or ''touchstone'' of the ancients. It is mentioned and its use described in the writings of [[Bacchylides]] about 450&nbsp;BC, and was also described by [[Theophrastus]] in his book ''On Stones'' ([[Ancient Greek]] title: {{math|Περὶ λίθων}}: ''Peri Lithon''), a century later. It is evident that the touchstone that [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] had in mind when he wrote about it was merely a dense variety of [[basalt]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dake |first1=H.C. |last2=Fleener |first2=Frank L. |last3=Wilson |first3=Ben Hur |year=1938 |title=Quartz Family Minerals: A handbook for the mineral collector |publisher=Whittlesey House (McGraw Hill)}}</ref></blockquote>

Basanite (not to be confused with [[bassanite]]), ''Lydian stone'', and [[radiolarite]] (a.k.a. lydite or flinty slate) are terms used to refer to several types of black, jasper-like rock (also including [[tuff]]s, [[chert]]s and [[siltstone]]s)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=D.T. |last2=Oddy |first2=W.A. |date=1 January 1985 |title=Touchstones: Some aspects of their nomenclature, petrography and provenance |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=59–80 |doi=10.1016/0305-4403(85)90015-9 |bibcode=1985JArSc..12...59M }}</ref> which are dense, fine-grained and flinty / cherty in texture and found in a number of localities. The "Lydian Stone" known to the [[Ancient Greeks]] is named for the ancient kingdom of [[Lydia]] in what is now western [[Turkey]]. A similar rock type occurs in [[New England]]. Such rock types have long been used for the making of [[Touchstone (assaying tool)|touchstones]] to test the purity of [[precious metal]] [[alloy]]s, because they are hard enough to scratch such metals, which, if drawn (scraped) across them, show to advantage their metallic [[Streak (mineralogy)|streaks]] of various (diagnostic) colours, against the dark background. There are, confusingly, not one but two rocks called basanite, one being a black form of jasper and the [[Basanite|other]] a black volcanic rock closely akin to basalt. Add to this the fact that many different rock types – having in common the colour black and a fine texture – have, over the ages, been pressed into service as touchstones and it will be seen that there is ample scope for confusion in this [[petrology]]- and [[mineralogy]]-related field of study.<ref>{{cite web |title=Basanite |date=15 October 2012 |website=Mindat.org |url=http://www.mindat.org/min-9173.html |access-date=24 March 2013}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery caption=Varieties of jasper widths="180px" class="center">
File:Jasper (32132824820).jpg| Red jasper rough, [[Cave Creek, Arizona]]
File:Jasper-poloski.jpg|Dull red jasper veined with white quartz, rough, provenance: uncertain – possibly Crimea or [[Kyrgyzstan]]
File:jasper.pebble.600pix.bkg.jpg |Brecciated red jasper tumbled smooth, {{convert|1|inch|cm|abbr=on}}
File:Cherry Creek Jasper (China) (40126258670).jpg|Red-green-and-yellow jasper [[cabochon]], Cherry Creek, China
file:Jasper-brek4iya.jpg|Brecciated yellow-and-green jasper, cut and polished, [[Kara Dag Mountain|Kara Dag]], [[Crimea]]
File:Cut and oiled yellow jasper 3.JPG |Brecciated yellow jasper, cut and oiled
File:Saint-Jacut-les-Pins - Tropical Parc, musée des minéraux (14).jpg|Green-yellow-and-orange polished jasper boulder, Tropical Parc, musée des mineraux, [[Saint-Jacut-les-Pins]], [[Brittany]]
File:Green and Red Jasper IMG 9478.jpg|Green-and-red jasper pebble with areas of grey, translucent [[chalcedony]], [[Aomori Prefecture]], Shichiri Nagahama, Japan
File:Tabu Tabu Jasper (South Africa) (41889473312).jpg|Cabochon of Tabu Tabu jasper (brecciated, with angular [[clasts]] cemented by grey chalcedony) [[South Africa]]
File:Bloodstone 3 (49036281801).jpg|Jasper variety [[Heliotrope (mineral)|bloodstone]], provenance doubtful, possibly [[Deccan Traps]] India
File:Jaspi verd, montjuic, barcelona.jpg |Multi-coloured, banded jasper rough, [[Montjuïc]], [[Barcelona]]
File:Kaleidoscope Jasper from Oregon.jpg | Kaleidoscope jasper rough, [[Oregon]]
File:Poppyjasper.jpg|Poppy jasper (an orbicular jasper from [[Morgan Hill]], [[California]]), rough
File:Poppyjasperpolished.JPG|Poppy jasper: small, polished slabs, Morgan Hill, California
File:Freiberg, Terra mineralia, Augenjaspis.JPG|Orbicular "ocean jasper" (not, strictly, a jasper, but a highly silicified [[rhyolite]] or [[tuff]]) [[Analalava District]] [[Madagascar]], polished slab
File:Jaspe orbiculaire Madagascar 1597B.jpg |Orbicular "ocean jasper", {{convert|5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, Analalava District, Madagascar
File:Bruneau Jasper from Idaho Thundereggs.jpg |[[Bruneau jasper]], [[Idaho]] (this jasper occurs within [[thunderegg]]s), [[A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum]]
File:Mookaite (Windalia Radiolarite Formation, Lower Cretaceous; Western Australia).jpg|"Mookaite" (a [[Radiolarite|radiolarian chert]] from the Windalia Radiolarite Formation, [[Western Australia]]), rough
File:Biggs jasper on carpet.jpg|[[Biggs jasper]], [[Oregon]]
File:Jasper Dalmatian (212237453).jpeg|"[[Dalmatian (dog)|Dalmatian]] jasper" – not a jasper at all but a form of the igneous rock [[perthite]]. The black spots are composed of the rare [[amphibole]] [[arfvedsonite]] (and not, as often claimed, of tourmaline). Polished pebble.
File:Black and white striped [[Zebra]] jaspers, small, smooth, tumbled.
</gallery>

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jasper}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Jasper |short=x}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Jasper |volume=15 |page=279 |short=x}}

{{Jewellery}}
{{Silica minerals}}
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[[Category:Jasper| ]]