Mystery of Oregon’s sunstones | Oregon Field Guide

Sunstones are copper-bearing gemstones that come from small areas of Oregon's Columbia River Flood Basalts. But little is known about how Oregon’s official state gemstones are formed.
Geologist Emily Cahoon sets out to uncover the many mysteries of these enigmatic yellow, red, and even blue-green gemstones.
Join “Oregon Field Guide” as we set out to uncover the many mysteries of the official state gemstone.
Learn more: www.opb.org/article/2022/02/2...
For more stories like this www.opb.org/show/oregonfieldg... and www.opb.org/science_environment/
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#oregonsunstone #opb #OregonFieldGuide #rockhounding #pacificnorthwest

[@OfficiallySnek]

Sunstones are now one of my most favorite gemstones

[@sidstevens4990]

My name is Sid Stevens and I'm a jeweler/goldsmith in Albany Oregon. Back in the 1970's my father-in-law Gerry Gray who was a geologist for the state of Oregon came to me and says there is this gemstone called sunstone that nobody knows about. It should be the official gemstone of Oregon. He had some of the miners of sunstone donate some stones to me. I and another goldsmith that worked for me, Al Price, designed some gold jewelry to show that sunstone was a real valuable gemstone. We started working to get the sunstone declared the official gemstone of the state of Oregon with governor Victor Atiyeh and it took until Neil Goldschmidtwas governor for the declaration to happen.

[@pjgfountaine7690]

It is truly a beautiful stone. Until half hour ago, I had Never even heard of it, or seen examples of its rare beauty. I live where clear and smoky quartz crystals can be readily found, and though they are pretty , sometimes contain plant matter ( i found one with moss inside of it many years ago), and can even reflect a rainbow in an inclusion or on a fracture line and are always fun to find, i can imagine the thrill of picking up something more varied and unique and ranging in such gorgeous colors like those of an Oregon sunstone Always exiting to find some new and beautiful gemstone

[@impunitythebagpuss]

Well done!

[@enochpage1333]

Thank you for the story of your combined efforts to draw attention to this beautiful gemstone.

[@JesusDisciple916]

I love your store! Well, mostly the wife does. Lol. Can't wait to come by for new pieces.

[@michellemarieperez6574]

Wow. Interesting.👍🙏🇺🇲

[@newlifewithin1]

Emily was the TA for my Petrology class! So cool to see her being successful in the field, and gaining some recognition for her work!

[@atlantic_love]

What's petrology? Hope it's not what I think it is.

[@newlifewithin1]

@@atlantic_love Petrology is the study of rocks- how they form and the like. Although I would be curious to know what you were thinking

[@atlantic_love]

@@newlifewithin1 Don't people who are interested in career the oil and gas fields take these types of courses?

[@newlifewithin1]

@@atlantic_love yes they do, but all students of geology take this class. Whether you’re into environmental protection and remediation, or resource exploration, it’s a common course for students studying either geology or engineering

[@smokeybear896]

P0

[@OliverCaesar]

I think the heat refractory property of Oregon Sunstone is a rather interesting aspect overlooked by this piece. I was particularly fascinated by the ant mounds out there constructed from thousands of tiny sunstones. My completely amateur and unprofessional theory is that the ants use the sunstones to keep their mounds cool. My friend also found a spider in a hole with a nice clear rectangular stone at the entrance to it's hole that he figured the spider was using as a sort of periscope to hunt it's prey with. Apparently that sort of phenomena is not unheard of with spiders.

[@toneenorman2135]

That’s cool!

[@nunliski]

@@toneenorman2135 It's also bullshit

[@GoldenOwlEvents]

Some spiders keep frogs as pets to keep their burrows clean. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are species of spiders all around the world that use tools that we know nothing about. A study of this would be fascinating.

[@toneenorman2135]

Golden Owl That’s for sure! I had no idea some spiders lived with frogs! I like spiders….

[@theunknowngamer5477]

@@nunliski No known case of any animal using a "tool" in all of recorded history. Maybe, the Bowerbird...a Beaver?

[@michaelchase418]

Dammit, how many times do I end up watching Oregon field guide and crying. Not because I'm sad, but because it showcases lives I've lived and lives I haven't but end up wishing I had.

[@YourGemologist]

Follow up: The process of copper diffusing into the crystal occurred in the magma chamber. The copper was present in the magma chamber below the Rabbit Basin area (and the Ponderosa mine area), and was diffused by the heat and pressure of the chamber into the crystals where they originally formed. The copper entered quickly and went to the interior of the crystal, which is why in so many you see the red interior and colorless outer edge. The green/blue coloring forms at the boundaries due to oxidation of the copper. This is demonstrated at minute 2:10 of the video with John Woodward of the Ponderosa mine. Having studied the Oregon Sunstone for years during my fight with the Chinese and their fake Tibet andesine I got a lot of independent research done on the subject. The Oregon Sunstone is truly unique in the world and copper bearing feldspar is found in only one place in the world.

[@kaitlynlsari681]

Great analysis. That actually makes a lot of sense in hindsight( like a lot of things) and explains how the copper got included in the labradorite crystal formation. Fantastic! It makes these gems one of a kind! Are there other copper bearing minerals in the rabbit basin area? Or do any of the matrix rocks have a higher than normal abundance of copper?

[@YourGemologist]

@@kaitlynlsari681 The lava flows that brought these sunstone to the surface happened 11 million years ago, and the formation is most likely many eons before that. The presence of that much copper present with the forming large feldspar crystals in a magma chamber is unknown anywhere else that I know of since no other deposit of this kind has been found anywhere. The basaltic rock flows do not contain copper to any measurable amount, and copper is not present in any other crystals to my experience. This is something that happened deep inside the earth millions upon millions of years ago, was brought to the surface through fissures, spent a couple million years under an inland sea, then was uplifted to where it is now. A few years ago I published a book on the: Oregon Sunstone...and the Amazing People Who Mine It. It is still available on Blurb: www.blurb.com/b/8336023-oregon-sunstone

[@kaitlynlsari681]

@@YourGemologist interesting! Thanks for such an in-depth reply. I live in Central Otago New Zealand so we don't have any nearby flood basalt lavas! A bit of hot spot activity about 11million years ago that created a shield volcano at Dunedin which is now heavily eroded and some minor basalt cinder cones near Oamaru and kokonga, which is near ranfurly. The predominant rock type in my part of Nz is schist a metamorphic rock. Lots of volcanism in the central north Island though, but subduction generated, so flood basalt lavas and Thier associated minerals are interesting to learn about. Thanks for recommending your book!

[@worldthroughmyeyes8154]

Thx 4 all this info that fills in the spaces. Bahaha.

[@1111atreides]

So it wasn't aliens? I was hoping for aliens. Nuts.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Heck yes! Born and raised in Corvallis Oregon. I'm cheering you on along your journey onto learning about these unique gemstones and just the local geological attributes as whole in anyway is awesome 👍 I wish I could live this way, I'd play with rocks everyday if I could. I'm obsessed

[@ralphhooker6019]

I was born in Oregon 68 years ago. Lived here all my life. I thank you for teaching me something new about my home. Keep digging and sharing!

[@trudymaenza9672]

When attending college back in late 70's, Geology was one of my fav classes!

[@bob_frazier]

Every Oregonian should have a Sunstone. And a Thunder Egg too!

[@alexcarter8807]

Californian here. It was thunder eggs and geodes, and moon stones. Also petrified wood.

[@cinemoriahFPV]

And a crack pipe.

[@richardkronberg4925]

I have kidney stone.☹️

[@YowzaBowzaWowza]

@@cinemoriahFPV: Portland Liberals and other filth

[@pendizzy6352]

I'm glad I tripped onto this. Great story. Now I want to visit Oregon 4sure .😁 From 🇨🇦

[@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken]

Cruise highway 101 along the coast when you visit. I got a loose sunstone of my own when I found a hobby stonecutter having a sale

[@prestonpowers7376]

Come on down, looks like we're going to have a great summer. Spring is just setting in and it's beautiful!

[@afterthestorm221]

I love when people take a hobby to the next level. Imagine if he didn't, we wouldn't have nearly as many of these beautiful stones. 💚

[@judeirwin2222]

Imagine if he had, not didn’t. You are confusing verb tenses.

[@MattCookOregon]

What a great dive into the world of sunstones. Nice job.

[@cosmoray9750]

Locked in Stalemate, What Lies Ahead for... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIuQgIailtekj7s

[@MattCookOregon]

@@cosmoray9750 Irrelevant.

[@CivilShepherd]

Thor's Toilet guy

[@MattCookOregon]

@@CivilShepherd I also covered Bullard's beach state park bathroom if interested.

[@CivilShepherd]

@@MattCookOregon I'll peep that out. Thanks.

[@johnmontgomery9100]

Oregon rocks!!!

[@richardkronberg4925]

No just big haystack in the water.

[@firewaterbydesign]

I absolutely LOVE our state stone!! I currently own several and purchase it to make jewelry for others. I am currently looking for a red one to make a ring or pendant, but have not found the right one yet.

[@magapickle01]

Should have gone to the cmeg show I had about a pound of nice reds and greens in the rough

[@infinimetrical]

I was born in Oregon, spent a majority of my life in Oregon. Sunstone is one of my favorites. I recently obtained one that has some shiller in it.

[@donstoddard8458]

What a great job to have Emily getting to study such a great mystery. Thanks for sharing

[@richardkronberg4925]

Still a mystery it sounds like.

[@YourGemologist]

Love the video. Very well done and features two of my dear friends, John and Debbie Aldrich, owners of the Double Eagle. The Double Eagle #16 mine is a must visit for anyone interested in Oregon Sunstone. Well done. indeed!

[@bob_frazier]

After Emily figures this out maybe she can explain how thunder eggs are formed. Yay for Oregon!

[@jdsd744]

We know how those are formed, surely?

[@bob_frazier]

@@jdsd744 Only general theories. OPB did a show about Thunder Eggs in 2014 and stated no one really knows.

[@juliehoward7396]

Is that c-60?

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Gas pockets and silica solution... not complicated.

[@baronesselsavonfreytag-lor1134]

So cool. I love the look of sunstone but haven't used it in jewelry designs yet. Didn't know it was so unique.

[@scififanman]

3:50 I bought a 3.3 ct solid red/orange faceted sunstone from JTV probably 15 years ago, very pretty, only cost me $30 though, not $$$$. The stone is one of my favorite in my collection, with multi-color 'schiller' flash on every facet and dense and across the entire stone, like a lutzed out aventurine marble. I'd love to set it in a men's ring for myself someday, would be stunning paired with a nice yellow or rose gold.

[@UncleBildo]

My family has dug 'em a few times. Big brother ran into a monster trove of deep red, some with a little green, and then another batch of green. My luck tends to be more yellow and clear......

[@ydarbnhoj]

In all my 70 years I’ve never heard of these particular stones - this is fascinating and worth looking in to greater detail…

[@oscarmedina1303]

Oregon sunstones are spectacular!

[@rubyh6256]

one of my goals is to find an Oregon sunstone and a thunder egg and this video just made me want to do it so much more.

[@mariemorgan7759]

I love sunstones! Thanks for the video!

[@patriciaaturner289]

I’ve seen lots of beautiful jewelry made with sun stones while browsing various shopping channels.

[@kennyhagan5781]

For some reason I keep thinking about how the Opals of Coober Peedy were formed. Water depositing silica and becoming a component of the stone that forms. What if something similar were involved in the formation of those gorgeous stones? I'd never even heard of Sunstone until now and am curious about it. Thanks for a well made video that got my curiosity going, that's a rare thing. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Apples and oranges, sedimentary opal vs volcanic sunstone.

[@shlby69m]

I've just watched sunstone vid; I too just learned in Geology that Paleomag has to account for liquids and minerals changing insides of rock. Think beautiful Geodes

[@allouttabubblegum1984]

Very cool geological history!

[@katgrey6239]

Great video! Thanks for the info!

[@ryanthelove]

Beautiful

[@miracas1206]

Wow I'm in love with these stones, stunningly beautiful!

[@czarcastic1458]

Those Basalt columns are bizarre.

[@halweilbrenner9926]

Very weird

[@repetemyname842]

Excellent video, short and sweet and straight to the point. Being from the Midwest Ive only heard of sunstones a few times and wasnt quite sure what people were talking about. Im in Laker country here so I spend my free time looking for agates and as an amateur rockhound Im always open to learn something cool, and this video accomplished that. Keep up the good work.

[@zeronothing000]

Beautiful Gems! Instant LOVE for these GEMS!

[@patsmith5947]

I would like to do that too. I love gemstones,how fun is this.

[@bekkylove742]

so interesting !! thank You

[@tdmvortex]

AWESOME ON ALL BASES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Taskerofpuppets]

Really neat. Do you think it has anything to do with the Great Missoula floods and the ‘Bretz’ effect from all the rock from the Glacier -Great Divide region? Perhaps it was compressed over time, the copper that is.

[@libertyann439]

How exciting to see these beautiful stones!

[@Coastal_Ace]

Oh man that looks so fun

[@nuggetoftruth-ericking7489]

This was interesting.

[@jonathanadams6673]

Appreciate this one. Thanks

[@Dante-tk7gb]

It's a fun activity.

[@wallyworld817]

Thank you for posting and all the hard work that this entails.

[@paulhammons7077]

I dig it man this video rocks

[@richardkronberg4925]

You pic a good one.

[@75blackviking]

I love videos like this. So many interesting things to learn here.

[@valerieneal2747]

ABSOLUTELY STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL !!🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@Appliedscienceguy]

Looking forward to explore this area in the near future!-:)❤

[@rjrulz327]

Awesome!

[@lanpartyanimal5215]

Never heard of them. They are stunning.

[@utahrockhoundingcouple]

Wow! Those really are beautiful gems and the geology information surrounding them is fascinating! I'd love to find some!

[@iLLDiSS]

"a vulcanologist, but not like Spock." this is the best job definition/explanation i ever heard about.

[@stevischermi6409]

VERY interesting 😊💕

[@sailaab]

This is soooo interestimg, intriguing, enchanting

[@mikehunt8375]

Yet most still think diamonds are more rare, beautiful, and worth more...

[@baronesselsavonfreytag-lor1134]

When you dig up a bunch of brown ones just call it chocolate to recoup your investment.

[@knuckletherapyserveothersf6092]

Wow they're beautiful

[@a-listercrowley2737]

Live long and prosper

[@shaunhall960]

I'm a jewelry artist and sunstones are one of my favorites.

[@troutfisher7182]

Interesting!

[@LVXMagick]

This is so cool. Labradorite is one of my favorite crystals ever. I have hundreds of crystals, but no sunstone. At least I can justify my next purchase to my husband. Lol

[@janicefoundas9163]

They are beautiful

[@wallamotdogface2053]

I’m in love!

[@peterkatznelson12]

If one looks into the crystalline matrices of the Sunstone, where does the copper occur? Is it part of the original molten state? Or is it “leached” from the surrounding material during crystallization?

[@kiloton1920]

Leached. Ions

[@pluribus_unum]

Rock Legends, original style

[@1Lightdancer]

That is so kool!! I had no idea of sun stones are labradorite!!

[@stevischermi6409]

Whoo whoo NICE!!!!

[@Aravallistoneshows]

Beautiful video 👍

[@Bobby007D]

Nice !

[@rhiannadodd7012]

Shared

[@magapickle01]

Any one wants the best colored sunstones needs to visit the spectrum mine when they are open . I've been there a few times and seen the most impressive reds and greens and are pretty solid rocks unlike the ones that come out of ponderosa that have lots of fractures. You see for your self if you see stones from both mines and locations .

[@roberthurd328]

Well maybe the crystal is aware of a singularity.. and that's why you're having two atomic structures sharing a result like if you put vinegar and water or water into vinegar they can't share the same area so the water and the vinegar overlaps filling in the empty spaces that the other doesn't use that effect might be what's going on

[@kellybrown685]

What a well done story

[@stacylarge5636]

I would love to have one

[@richardkronberg4925]

$2,000 a carat the old man said.

[@kayligo]

@@richardkronberg4925 that’s because the red ones are rare. White ones are pretty cheap. Maybe I should list mine on eBay

[@richardkronberg4925]

@@kayligo how much are the washed to shore coke bottles that look like stones? 😂

[@kayligo]

@@richardkronberg4925 no idea. I haven’t studied them like I have sun stones because they aren’t in my area. I live 5 hours from Plush and have gone sun stone hunting a few times.

[@richardkronberg4925]

@@kayligo cool thanks happy hunting. 💎💎💎💎

[@r0cketplumber]

I wonder if the copper is present in many labradorite samples in an oxidized form, but later gets reduced to metallic form via a more reactive metal (such as iron) getting oxidized in turn. Then the smaller lens of copper deep inside a stone is what remains after another exposure to *oxidizing* conditions, and only the copper nearer the surface is rendered transparent. The trouble is, why would the stone remain transparent when the various copper oxides are opaque? Are those oxides also diffusing out of the stones and into the matrix?

[@bethbartlett5692]

Maybe the heat of the Lava and motion of Flow is affecting the stone. A most interesting video clip. Love to Oregon 😘 Beth Tennessee, USA

[@Dr.Reason]

Oh my! I found one in Bend Oregon and thought it was kinda pretty but then dropped it and moved on. Didn’t know what I had.

[@richardkronberg4925]

My ex wife’s stone I threw it there! 🤪

[@voodoo2882]

very good info

[@pablosofly]

Where can I purchase a sunstone from the Ponderosa mine?

[@adamthestonerful]

You ever travel to plush Oregon I would suggest going to the spectrum sunstone mine and you can mine your own for of course a price but it is worth it it's a beautiful area I would recommend going

[@jdsd744]

I have some!

[@bob_frazier]

Many of these mines attend the bigger gem shows and sell rough as well as faceted stones, and even some set as jewelry. I believe I have some Sunstone from the Ponderosa, I bought them at the giant Tucson Gem and Mineral show direct from them, expensive, but incredibly beautiful.

[@baronesselsavonfreytag-lor1134]

They might have a website. I was looking for a Herkimer quartz and the Herkimer mine sells them.

[@richardkronberg4925]

Front counter cash only.

[@myluv4peter]

I have so many sunstones❤❤❤❤

[@richardkronberg4925]

I have so many kidney stones! 😰

[@infinimetrical]

I figure also taking a look at obsidian species could pair well with igneous crystals that fuse with metals like Sunstone and copper. This is just theoretical off the top of my mind.

[@andrewtoddmedia]

I still have fantasies about trekking in the Oregon woods, as I do, and stumbling upon a rock worth thousands of dollars and retiring early. Alas, it hasn't happened yet. Oh well, I'll just stick to the gorgeous forests and exquisite lakes and rivers that I'm used to.

[@mayorofduckburg5189]

Great video! Sunstone is easily one of my favorites, and content like this is very engaging. The specimen that was clear around the outside; could it be a secondary encasing, like the copper-infused interior grew first and was subject to another crystallization? I'm so curious now

[@Geoduck.]

Lovely country there in the high desert.

[@genebohannon8820]

Get Professor Zentner from CWU to do a talk about this😎

[@MarkJonesisjustaman]

Sunstone formation: some sort of super-heated hydraulic intrusion would be my guess. I wonder what the answer will be?

[@machine6404]

Coooool

[@briankepner7569]

Can you immerse the sun stones in a copper solution and have the sun stones take it up? Or is it a radiation by copper plasma issue? You've opened up a whole new mystery to sunstones that I never even had thought about

[@judithgockel1001]

Fascinating! And I’m not Spock, either.😀

[@anntrope491]

Looks like tormaline, or red labradorite...love all the different shades, & colors.

[@jennifers6560]

I live in Salem and now I wanna go look for some!

[@GT_Racer347]

Sweet 👍🏻 👍🏻

[@HangtownDave]

Very informative research! Yay flood basalts!

[@ltraina3353]

I’m so curious about how all this stuff works….like who funds the research Emily does? Does she work within a university system, and get funding from govt, or grants from private sources? It’s so cool she is obviously doing what she loves and somebody pays her to do it. (Unless she is self-funded?) I would love to find my niche like she has! Sunstones are so beautiful!

[@shlby69m]

Washington State Uni has a great Geology course. All backgrounds (Marine, Mining etc) are welcome

[@marahedgcock6318]

She should look at organic matter like algae. The charge of the algae maybe could contribute to the metal content in the crystal? Dunno. I am not a geologist or biologist. Heavy metals are often found in what were bogs millions of years ago.

[@daylenagel9952]

I would love to bring my grandson to one of these places, he has such an eye for finding agates and petrified wood...he'd love to come and see the gemstones.

[@magapickle01]

Go to spectrum do a belt run or a bucket screening

[@argonaught5666]

Oh great! Now I'm going to have to bust my brains on this too! Like I don't have enough puzzles to solve! Thanks a lot! 😅

[@sharoneastwood.1025]

I LOVE IT 😍 BECAUSE OF ITS DIVERSITY. ITS SPECTACULAR AND A REAL UNDERESTIMATED HIDDEN GEM ID LOVE A REALLY BIG PIECE SET IN A RING.

[@halweilbrenner9926]

I never knew about these.

[@richardkronberg4925]

Dig my friend Dig.

[@beauskie]

could there have bin some sort of electrical charg when they formed?