![]() Stone Properties: Snowflake Obisidan encourages us to bring issues to the surface in order to process them, understand them and finally heal from them. ![]() It is believed that even primitive mankind may have used both snowflake obsidian and obsidian for jewelry, tools and weaponry. However, no snowflake obsidian has been found that pre-dates the Cretaceous period. Obsidian is found anywhere that has experienced volcanic eruption with rapid cooling. Stone Origin: Obsidian has been used since ancient times. ![]() Utah is a major source of the snowflake variety.Stone Color: Snowflake Obsidian is black with distinctive grayish and/or white patterned inclusions that resemble "snowflakes". Arizona, Colorado, and California each have several productive localities. The United States is a major source of gem-quality material. You might encounter artificial or manufactured blue, green, or red glass pieces passed off as natural obsidians with these rare colors. See our glass gem listing for more information. The specific gravity range of both chalcedony and schorl overlaps with that of obsidian, but an RI test should separate them. However, standard gemological tests should distinguish them. Some commonly encountered natural gemstones that may be substituted or confused with obsidians are jet, chalcedony, and schorl (black tourmaline). Obsidians can have a moderate to very strong reaction. Obsidians may also have straight banding and needles, two more telltale signs of natural origins.Īlthough not a definitive test, checking for magnetic reactions may help confirm a glass piece as natural. Due to the difference in their refractive indices (RI), these will usually stand out in high relief when examined under magnification. Natural obsidians may contain some specific inclusions, such as crystallites, that help distinguish them from artificial glass. None, but crystal inclusions in obsidian may be birefringent.Ģ.25-3.00. Basalt glass may be splintery.Īmorphous usually as rounded masses ejected in volcanic eruptions, as small broken pieces, fine, hairlike filaments (for example, Pele’s Hair), and as flows. Iridescence noted: gold, silver, blue, violet, green, and combinations of these colors, due to inclusions of minute bubbles that reflect light.Ĭonchoidal (best example of this type of fracture). Green, blue, and reddish stones (transparent) are very rare. Protogenic silica minerals crystallizing in obsidian may be white and resemble snowflakes, hence the term snowflake obsidian.īlack gray, banded with brown streaks. Needlelike inclusions may give a silvery sheen. Bubbles are often in parallel arrangement. Obsidian is found in areas of present and former volcanic activity.Įlongated, torpedo-shaped bubbles, round bubbles, teardrop-shaped bubbles. Īfter Obsius, an explorer who discovered this material in Ethiopia, according to the Ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. Variable composition: SiO 2 approximately 66-72% + oxides of Ca, Na, K, and so forth. Since prehistoric times, people have used this material to make jewelry and carvings as well as practical objects, like knives.Īpache Tears, Fire Obsidian, Mahogany Obsidian, Rainbow Obsidian, Sheen Obsidian, Snowflake Obsidian Obsidian is the most common form of natural glass and occurs in many attractive varieties.
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