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.

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[OfficiallySnek]

Sunstones are now one of my most favorite gemstones

[sidstevens]

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.

[newlifewithin]

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!

[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.

[benmcreynolds]

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

[ralphhooker]

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!

[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.

[trudymaenza]

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

[afterthestorm]

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.
💚

[donstoddard]

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

[MattCookOregon]

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

[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.

[bob_frazier]

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

[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.

[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!

[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.

[pendizzy]

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

[baronesselsavonfreytag-lor]

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

[bob_frazier]

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

[john-brady]

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