[Jewelry making - Article 00745] - Re: [Orchid] Fire Agate, Cause of Color?

[Lee Einer]

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    Ron, I wasn't kidding, but I know now that I was mistaken regarding
    oolite being petrified fish eggs. 

    When I was a kid, and a budding rockhound, an old lapidary showed me
    his collection, which included a slab of oolite, which he earnestly
    informed me was petrified fish eggs. I didn't think to question  at
    the time, and never did since until this thread. Now I know that the
    term oolite refers largely to sedimentary masses of spherules which
    resemble fish eggs. It was a common misunderstanding, I think- see
    here- 

    http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/hoosier/DS-01.html 

    and here 

    http://csd.unl.edu/agates/agatelexiconletter.asp?Agate=O 

    Turitella agate was thought to contain petrified fish eggs, way back
    when. 

    As far as Ocean Jasper and Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper, I am familiar
    with the materials, but have always heard/read them referred to as
    "orbicular" rather than "oolitic." 

    At any rate, fire agate with the bubbly surface is properly
    botryoidal, as in botryoidal chalcedony, not oolitic, as we would
    both agree that it is not a concretion of fish-egg like spherules. 

Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com


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