{{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 = #732b1c | boxtextcolor = #FFFFFF | image = Jasper outcrop in the Bucegi Mountains.jpg | imagesize = 280px | caption = Jasper outcrop, Bucegi Mountains, Romania | alt = | struct image = | struct caption = | struct imagesize = | struct2 image = | struct2 caption = | struct2 imagesize = | 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 = none | fracture = Conchoidal | 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 = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | impurities = | alteration = }} '''Jasper''', an 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 |access-date=2 November 2009 |archive-date=1 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701054945/https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gemstones/sp14-95/chalcedony.html |url-status=dead }}</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 opaque,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jasper |website=Mindat.org |url=http://www.mindat.org/min-2082.html }}</ref> impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron(III) 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, seals, and snuff boxes. The density of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9 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 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 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|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 ''jaspe'') and Latin {{Lang|la|iaspidem}} (nom. {{Lang|la|iaspis}}) from 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 language (cf. Hebrew ''{{Lang|he|ישפה}}'' {{Transliteration|he|yashpeh}}, 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, which is of 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 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'' (یَشم).
Green jasper was used to make bow drills 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, 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 Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 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 in ancient documents 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 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 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., 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 |access-date=6 October 2010 |archive-date=3 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503111323/http://www.worldofjaspers.com/index.html |url-status=dead }}</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 formations (BIFs) which indicate low, but present, amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water such as during the Great Oxidation Event or Snowball Earth.<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 appearance, i.e., leopard skin jasper or linear banding from a fracture as seen in liesegang jasper. Healed, fragmented rock produces brecciated (broken) jasper.
While these "picture jaspers" occur 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, 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 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 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 tuffs, cherts and siltstones)<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 touchstones to test the purity of precious metal alloys, because they are hard enough to scratch such metals, which, if drawn (scraped) across them, show to advantage their metallic streaks of various (diagnostic) colours, against the dark background.
There are two distinct materials known as basanite: one is a black variety of jasper, while the other is a black volcanic rock closely related to basalt. Furthermore, various fine-grained black stones have historically been utilised as touchstones. Given this overlap in nomenclature and physical appearance, there is significant potential for ambiguity within the fields of petrology and mineralogy.<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> There is an alkaline rich mafic igneous rock with the name Basanite.
==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, 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 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 thundereggs), A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum File:Mookaite (Windalia Radiolarite Formation, Lower Cretaceous; Western Australia).jpg|"Mookaite" (a 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 jasper". According to Mindat, it is a trade name for a peralkaline rock consisting of dark spots embedded on a lighter matrix. Mindat classifies it as a subtype of Peralkaline alkali-feldspar-granite which in turn is a subtype of alkali feldspar granite.<ref>Mindat.org (2025). ''Dalmatian Stone''. Mindat.org — The mineral and locality database. Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 2025‑12‑26, from https://www.mindat.org/min-52766.html</ref> 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}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Jasper