Ocean Jasper Silver Pendant from Madagascar

This tan based Ocean Jasper with deep green orbs comes from the western coast of Madagascar. Geologically it is an orbicular rhyolite, orbs form from crystals nucleating on a small inclusion. It comes from Analalava region in Northwestern Madagascar. It was original written about in 1922 but wasn’t rediscovered unit 1977 when a slab was presented in book. After that, an expedition was launched to discover the locality and mining was commenced in 1999 and material made it to the Tuscan Gem show in 2000 as Ocean Jasper due to its patterns looking like ocean waves and that the mining locality was only available at low tide. This material is an internationally known jasper!