What is picture jasper?
Jasper is an impure form of cryptocrystalline quartz (a fine grained variety). It is related to agate, chalcedony, flint, and chert. It commonly will contain a significant amount of iron oxide and hydroxide minerals. Open veins in the rock will often have water solutions percolating through faults. Under certain conditions, the dissolved ion content of the water becomes supersaturated and minerals will precipitate out( similar to “hard” water). There can be changes in the solution over time such as the amount of oxygen in solution which will give rise to differences in the oxidation state of iron ( red – highly oxidized, green – a more reduced state). The different colors in the picture jasper can arise either during the initial deposition or more oxidizing solutions seeping through the more permeable layers and fractures within the jasper masses. The picture part of the jasper is that the patterns in the rock look like scenes from the western US. There are many localities worldwide th
