JASPER

JASPER, sedimentary siliceous rock. The structure is crypto‑crystalline, the texture is massive. The various shades of red, yellow, brown, bluish‑gray, green, purple colours are caused by the presence of mainly iron and manganese oxides, an admixture of epidote and other minerals. Also, there is mottled, striped or spotted (landscape) J. It is used as oranmental stone or facing material. It is distributed in the western wing of the Magnitogorsk Megasynclinorium, where it builds up the Ural Jasper Belt (over 400 km long, 40–50 km wide), as part of Irendykskaya, Karamalytashskaya, and Ulutauskaya suites. Within Abzelilovsky, Baymaksky, Uchalinsky, Khaibullinsky raions, there are over 80 deposits and manifestations of J. The unicoloured varieties of red sealing wax colour, yellow and green build up Faizullinskoye and Balta‑Tauskoye deposits; ribbon varieties build up Nauruzovskoye and Safarovskoye deposits; wavy‑iridescent varieties with fuzzy contours of lamination of greenish‑pink tones — Malomuinakovskoye Manifestation; variegated – Tungatarovskoye; jasperoids – Kalkanskoye, Muldakayevskoye deposits, etc. Artworks made of Bashkir J. are exhibited in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg), in the halls of the Moscow Kremlin, in Moscow and St. Petersburg palaces, the Louvre (Paris), the British National Gallery (London), the Museum of Geology and Mineral Resources of the RB.