Wonderful Mookaite Sphere High Quality Mookaite > Jasper - Collector's Sphere - Height: 116 mm - Width: 116 mm- 2084 g

Stunning mookaite jasper sphere, carefully hand-polished to enhance its vibrant kaleidoscope of colors.
Mookaite is a silicate mineral from the same vein as quartz, defined as a form of chalcedony, but geologists argue that technically it is a silicified (rich in silicates) form of porcelanite rock.
Mookaite is made from fossil remains of microscopic aquatic creatures, and some rare pieces can even contain fossil traces from the era of the dinosaurs.
This stone is found only in Australia and is named after Mooka Creek, where it is located in Western Australia.
Over one hundred million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period, microscopic marine creatures called Radiolarians died and sank to the seabed in an area of Western Australia called Mooka Creek.
Their hard silica shells and mineral-rich skeletons decomposed on the seabed, forming sediments.
When the sea level receded and underground waters rich in silica and other minerals penetrated the sediments, these fossilized remains were buried in increasingly deeper layers of sedimentary rock, forming Mookaite.
The vibrant colors and patterns of Mookaite are caused by these other minerals that filter through underground waters, such as manganese and iron.
Consequently, this type of rock is called Radiolarite, named after the creatures it is formed from, and more specifically, the rocks from which Mookaite is extracted are called Windalia Radiolarite, after the Australian area where the geological formation is located.
The Mookaite gemstone from this formation often contains opaline and chalcedonic elements and tends to form in nodules, from which it is extracted, cut, and polished into colored gems.
This rock is quite fragile and breaks easily, which means that specimens often show defects, cavities, and holes, which only serve to increase the earthiness and character of the stone.