A Field Guide to the Agates, Jaspers, and Opals

 

Volume III--A Study and Classification of

Microstructures, Banding, and the Clays

 

By:  Donald Kasper

 

This is the first comprehensive book of agate, jasper, and opal microstructures.  This book is 192 pages.  It book contains over 300 photos of microstructures and inclusions in the agates, jaspers, and opals.  It classifies over 275 structures; over 60 are new that the author assigned names.  They are all classified by their structural and compositional type.  Special emphasis is paid to the clays and chlorites represented in the agates.  Electron micrographs of the clay minerals where they form distinctive structures are correlated to the clay inclusions found in the agates.  A classification of the 24 types of banding structures with representative photos are also included

 

 

Tubes of clay with adsorbed green chlorite are surrounded by quartz crystal layers

in a background of clear silica (agate).  This is in a Frieda, Oregon thunderegg.