• Thundereggs are the official rocks of Oregon Formed millions of years ago, Thunderegg (Thunder egg) is a round nodule-like rock formation, filled with agate, jasper, opal, and/or quartz crystals. Thunderegg is also called agate-filled or jasper-filled nodules.
What is a Thunderbird egg?
Thunder eggs are spherical objects which form in some types of silica-rich volcanic rocks (e.g. rhyolites). As the volcanic lava cooled, trapped steam and other gases formed an expanding bubble.
How do you tell if a rock is a thunder egg?
Difference Between A Geode And A Thunder Egg
Geodes will often contain a crystalline matrix of crystals. However, Thundereggs generally contain a more solid center structure consisting of various mineral deposits. The beauty of thundereggs is often enhanced by cutting and polishing cross-cut disks from the thunderegg.
What is thunder egg used for?
Thunder Egg is used in the spool of the Sewing Machine to create a Shirt. It can be used in dyeing, serving as a purple dye at the dye pots, located in Emily’s and Haley’s house, 2 Willow Lane.
What is the difference between a geode and a thunder egg?
Thunder eggs, which are technically known as lithophysae are typically found with solid or near-solid cores of chalcedony or agate, whereas geodes are relatively hollow inside with thinner layers of quartz crystals.
Are thundereggs worth anything?
Their value ranges from about $1 per slice or half egg to well over $100 per slice or single cabochon. A Thunderegg is not actually a rock. It is a structure, sometimes a nodule, sometimes a geode, occurring in rhyolite, welded tuff, or perlitic rocks.
Where are thundereggs found in Oregon?
The most colorful and beautiful of Thundereggs comes from a small area in Jefferson County in Central Oregon (Pony Butte). In other localities they do not show such brilliant color and gem quality. In spite of their superior quality, only one in an average of twenty cut make outstanding specimens.
How do you cut a thunder egg?
While most of the work can be done with things found at the hardware store, slicing the egg open will require some sort of saw. Thundereggs 1” or under can be cut with diamond cut-off wheels in a Dremel or flex-shaft but the cut will be rough.
Are diamonds found in Oregon?
Because of their rarity and uniqueness to Oregon, sunstones were named the state’s gemstone in 1987. They’re literally diamonds in the rough because they’re found in a region about 25 miles north of Plush, a Lake County ranching community.
What do you do with Jamborite?
Jamborite is used in the spool of the Sewing Machine to create the Green Thumb Shirt. It can be used in dyeing, serving as a green dye at the dye pots, located in Emily’s and Haley’s house, 2 Willow Lane.
What is a Thunder Egg crystal?
A thunderegg (or thunder egg) is a nodule-like rock, similar to a filled geode, that is formed within rhyolitic volcanic ash layers. Thundereggs are rough spheres, most about the size of a baseball—though they can range from a little more than a centimeter to over a meter across.
How do you find geodes?
To find geodes, look in riverbeds, limestone areas, and volcanic ash beds in countries where geodes are often found, like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Madagascar. When you’re searching for geodes, look for rocks that are round or egg-shaped with a bumpy texture.
What is Oregon State gemstone?
Sunstone
Sunstone (Oregon State Gemstone)
Oregon’s state gemstone is a feldspar crystal that weathers out of certain lava flows in south-central Oregon. Sunstone color relates to the amount of copper in the stone – 20 parts per million for yellow, 200 parts per million for red.
How much does a thunderegg cost?
Thundereggs are valued between $1 and over $ 100 per slice or cabochon.
How much is the thunder egg?
It is around $4 for a golf ball sized thunderegg and increases with size i.e. $7 for a tennis ball sized thunderegg.
How do you clean thunder eggs?
The quickest and the easiest way to clean your geodes or thundereggs is to just wash them with plain old soap and water. I’ll take a soft bristle scrub brush to them as well, to get all the dirt out of the cracks and crevices.
What is the difference between a thunder egg and agate?
Thunder eggs are red, light-pink, pinkish-red, reddish-brown, and brown from the outside because of the color of rhyolites. Thunder eggs are not perfectly round from inside. Chalcedony or agate can form star-like figures. Geodes are hollow inside.
Why do they call them thundereggs?
According to legend, thundereggs were named by the Native Americans of central Oregon, who are said to have believed that these strange, agate-filled stones were thrown by fighting “thunder spirits” who dwelt on Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood (two of several snow-capped peaks high in the Cascade Range).
Where do you find geodes in Oregon?
You can find geodes in the high desert near Prineville and Mandras and the great forests of Central Oregon, such as the Ochoco National Forest. Another great place to find geodes is in the Eastern Succor Creek Canyon of Oregon. The Calapooia River in the county of Linn is also noted for its geodes.
How are thundereggs formed?
Formation. Thundereggs are found in flows of rhyolite lava. They form in the lava from the action of water percolating through the porous rock carrying silica in solution. The deposits lined and filled the cavity, first with a darker matrix material, then an inner core of agate or chalcedony.
What’s inside a geode?
The hollow interior often is nearly filled with inward-projecting crystals, new layers growing on top of old. The crystals are of quartz, less often of calcite or dolomite, and sometimes of aragonite, ankerite, hematite, magnetite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite.
