Orbicular Ocean Jasper

Orbicular Ocean Jasper is found in the Mahajanga Province, in northwestern Madagascar.

Ocean Jasper was first described by Lacroix in 1922 and then the location was actually lost for almost 80 years! It hit the Tucson Gem Show in 2000 and quickly became famous. Today only low quality is dug and the nice colors and the neat orbicular pattern of this cabochon are just memories from the past.

Orbicular jaspers are formed by devetrification process on obsidian lava flow. The shape of the deposit itself remember that of a lava flow, but it was completely transformed into jasper. You can have more information on the process in the book: “Genesis and Clasification of Agates and Jaspers: a new theory” (available here).

Today ocean jasper is one of the highest prized jasper and is difficult to obtain good cutting rough.