Oregon!
RyansRocks
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A river runs through it!
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Thunderegg Cut!
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Agate Cut!
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Fossiliferous Limestone Cut!
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Breccia!
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Agate Cut!
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Beautiful Agate Cut!
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Ooids inside!
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Travertine Cut!
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Agate Stone Cut!
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Brecciated Jasper Cut!
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Jasper Cut!
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Agate Nodule Cut!
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Leopard skin Jasper Cut!
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Green Tint Basalt Cut!
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Cold Rockhunt in a Hot Springs!
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Snively Gulch!
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Roadcut Snively Gulch!
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Agate n' Brecciated Jasper!
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Hot mess of Conglomerate!
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Basalt Lavarock!
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Jasper w/iron inclusions!
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Big Daddy!
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Chalcedony Chunk!
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Fruity Pebbles Conglomerate!
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Ironstone banding!
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Quartzite w/patterns!
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Brecciated Red Jasper!
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Breccia!
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My BFFs a BIF!
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Blob o' Jasper!
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Walkin' a wash!
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Soapstone!
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Breccia!
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Conglomerate!
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Jasper chunk!
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Plume agate!
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Jasper!
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Jasper chunk!
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Lavarock!
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Breccia!
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Red eye!
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Interesting chunk o' Jasper!
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Can't wait to cut this one!
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Yellow Jasper!
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Bruneau Jasper!
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Out rockhoundin' the other daaaayie...
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Thunderegg Inspection!
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Plume botryoidal chalcedony nugget!
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Plume slice!
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Botryoidal slice!
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Plume agate inspection!
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Plume flow!
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Botryoidal Chalcedony Nugget!
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Playing with color!
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Plume chunk glow!
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Red dot glow slice!
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Glow plume!
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Carnelean Glow!
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Jasper glow!
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Glow Plume!
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Plume chunk glow!
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Slab o' Plume Glow!
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Glow chunk!
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Plume agate glow!
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The green caught my eye!
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Square geode!
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Big ol' chunk!
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Beautiful dark opal!
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Hot Botryoidal Mess!
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Plume agate!
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A Bit o' Honey Plume Agate!
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Brecciated jasper!
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Plume agate!
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Alien egg!
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Half of a geode!
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It's curved!
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Plume Agate!
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Botryoidal formations!
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Carnelian sandwich!
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Broken geode!
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This half survived Monther Nature!
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Plume agate!
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Beautiful Colors!
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Jasper, Chalcedony, Opal & ???
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Cool Banding!
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Rockhunting at Graveyard Point!
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Botryoidal chalcedony!
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Wash walkin'
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Dark green metamorphic!
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Pretty Orangey & Yella Quartzite!
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Chalcedony Nodule!
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Big Daddy Agate!
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Reds!
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Agate Chunk!
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Beautiful Glow Quartz!
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Iron Stained Quartz!
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Yellow Agate Nodule!
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White Iron Stained Quartz!
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White Quartz!
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Iron Stained Quartz!
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Pretty Yellow Glow Nodule!
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Thunderegg!
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Half a Thunderegg w/Opal!
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Botryoital Opal w/ A Little of Everything!
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Pretty Red Jasper!
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Succor Creek Canyon, OR.
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Watch for Rocks!
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Greens & Browns!
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Big ol' nodule!
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Hot Mess of agates!
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White/Yellow Chalcedony!
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Nodule w/ reds!
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Spud 4!!!
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Green Sandstone!
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Botryoidal chalcedony!
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Pretty greens!
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Pretty red agates nodule!
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Another nodule with reds!
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Dinosaur Egg!
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Into the "to be cut" box!
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Geode?
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Molten Sandstone?
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Red!
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Sandstone!
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Example of minerals seeping into rocks!
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Big lump of miscellaneous rocks!
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Big Daddy Nodule!
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Rockhounding near Mitchell Butte, OR
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Love the Green!
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Spud!
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Chalcedony or Opal?
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Mish Mash of Agate!
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Shard of Agate!
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Bright Red Agate!
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Bright Green Agate!
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Rusty Red Agate!
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Colorful Agate!
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Limestone!
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Beautiful Reds! Jellybean Agate!
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Jellybean Agate!
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Definitely cut this one!
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Colorful Jellybean Agate!
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Big ol' Colorful Chuck of Agate!
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Took forever to cut this one!
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Thought this Thunderegg would be hollow!
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Time to cut!
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Opal or Chalcedony?
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Botryoidal!
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Chalcedony nodule!
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Green & White Chalcedony!
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It's hollow!
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Some green!
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Spot o' Orange!
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Half Nugget!
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Opal?
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Lil' bowl!
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Jasper chips!
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Pretty green!
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Love the red!
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Layering!
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Fire glow!
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Glow cave!
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Pretty glow!
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Glow Chunk!
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Half glow nugget!
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Bright White!
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Too bright!
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Mellow yellow!
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It's got teeth!
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Petrified Wood?
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Pretty chalcedony!
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Colorful Shard!
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Cool Banding!
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Full of Opal!
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Opal Inside!
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Chalcedony!
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Thunderegg Condo!!!
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Chalcedony and Opal!
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Botryoital Opal w/ A Little of Everything!

3 months ago
10

Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica, with a water content typically between 3 and 21% by weight, most commonly around 6-10%. It's deposited at relatively low temperatures and can be found in the fissures of various rock types, including limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl, and basalt. Here's a deeper look into opal:

Types of Opal:

Precious Opal: Known for its "play-of-color," which is an optical phenomenon where colors flash or change as the angle of light or observation changes. This effect is due to the diffraction of light through the microscopic silica spheres within the opal.

Common Opal: Lacks the play-of-color and can come in a variety of colors like white, black, grey, yellow, orange, red, or brown. It's often referred to as "potch" when not gem-quality.

Fire Opal: Typically ranges in color from yellow to orange to red and can be transparent to translucent. Fire opals can exhibit play-of-color, but their name comes from the fiery body color.

Boulder Opal: A type of opal naturally attached to its host rock. It's often cut with the host rock to provide stability and to enhance the visual appeal.

Matrix Opal: The opal fills the cracks and cavities within the host rock, creating a network of opal that's visible on the surface.

Formation:

Primary Opal: Forms through the slow deposition of silica from groundwater in cavities or fractures of rocks.

Secondary Opal: Can form by weathering or alteration of other minerals, often in more superficial environments or through the action of silica-rich waters.

Locations:

Australia: The world's leading source, especially for precious opal, with significant deposits in places like Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge, and White Cliffs.

Ethiopia: Known for its black opals and more recently discovered opal fields.

Mexico: Famous for fire opals.

Brazil: Produces a variety of opals, including crystal opal.

Properties:

Hardness: Typically ranges between 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, though it can be softer if less hydrated or harder if more silica-rich.

Luster: Can range from waxy to resinous to vitreous.

Transparency: Varies from opaque to semi-translucent to transparent.

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