7.7" Polished Cherry Creek Jasper - China

Cherry creek jasper, also known as Red Creek Jasper or Picasso Jasper, is a beautiful, veiny stone mined from the Cherry Creek Mine in China. The stone contains a wide variety of colors and brecciated patterns. Though it is typically referred to as a jasper, it is not a jasper in a true sense since it is primarily composed of dolomite, not chalcedony. Like most dolomitic rocks and jaspers, it would have formed from sediment laid down by an ancient ocean.

About Jasper

Jasper is a term that can be applied to an opaque variety of chalcedony. The opaqueness is due to a higher concentration of impurities mixed with silica/quartz compared to other varieties of silica, such as quartz or agates. Like agate it may form in a wide variety of colors, and is often multi-colored. In most cases, jasper forms when silica-rich fluids permeate throughout a soft sediment or volcanic debris deposit. The fluids then crystallize around the particles/impurities, resulting in a cementation process. Most often, the impurities present determine the coloration of the deposit following solidification, but other factors can play a role in the color of what is now considered a jasper.