NOTESAND NEWTECHNIQUES

PROVINCE,
OPALFROM SHEWA ETHIOPIA
By Mary L.Johnson, Robert C. Kammerling, Dino G. DeGhionno, and John I. Koivula

Opal occurs as nodules in volcanic rocks at a new gem opal locality in the
Menz Gishe district of S h m Province, Ethiopia. The opalfield,still in the
early stages of exploration, extends over several square kilometers. Opals
from Shewa. Province have near-colorless to white, yellow, orange, ray, or
brown body colors; some show face-up play-of-color, and many have contra
luz play-of-color. The ~emologicalproperties are consistent with those of
other natural opals, and small particles are common inclusions.
Preliminary stability tests indicate that much of the material absorbs
Â¥waterund some crazes when exposed to light and heat,

Gem-quality opals, for the most part, come from ter's related deposits in Idaho (Broughton, 1972) and
two types of deposits: volcanic and sedimentary British Columbia (Downing, 1993).
(Frondel, 1962). Although the most significant Recently, opals were discovered at Yita Ridge
deposits of gem opal-those in Australia-are sedi- in the Menz Gishe district of Shewa Province,
mentary in nature (see, for instance, Wise, 1993)) Ethiopia. The opal-bearing rock is a nodular rhyo-
other important opal deposits are related to siliceous lite (similar to that at Opal Butte). Material exam-
volcanic rocks. These volcanic occurrences include, ined from the Ethiopian deposit included stones
among others, Querktaro, Mexico (see, e.g., Koivula resembling "contra luz" (that is, play-of-color only
et al., 1983; Gubelin, 1986; and Spencer et al., 19921, visible with transmitted light) and "crystal" opal,
and Opal Butte, Oregon (Smith, 1988),with the lat- as well as a fire agate-like opal that shows play-of-
color on a dark brown body color (figure 1).As the
deposit is still in the preliminary evaluation stage
ABOUT THE AUTHORS (T. Yohannes, pers. comm., 1996), its full produc-
Dr. Johnson is a research scientist, the late Mr. Kammerling was tion potential is unknown. However, early sam-
vice president for research and development, Mr. DeGhionno is
senior staff gemologist, and Mr. Koivula is chief research gemolo- pling results indicate that the opal-bearing rocks
gist at the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory, Santa Monica, California. extend over several square kilometers.
Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank Telahun Z.
Yohannes, of the Ethics-AmerCan Resource Development BACKGROUND
Corporation, Wheat w e , Colorado, for providing pho-
tographs and mining information, Jbaning fashioned stones To the best of our knowledge, the first report on
and rough, and allowing some destructive testing of the rough gem opals from Ethiopia appeared in the February
material. Dr. Paul Downing, of Majestic Opal, Estes Park, 1994 ICA Gazette (Barot, 1994). According to that
Colorado, and Klaus G. Klement, of Rough Times, San Diego,
California, provided additional stones and information. Dr. N. R. report, Ethiopian opals were first seen in the
Barot, Nairobi, Kenya, sent some early information about opals Nairobi gem market in mid-1993. Some of these
from Ethiopia. Dijon Doupliner, of the GIA Gem Trade opals (obtained in Nairobi as being of Ethiopian ori-
Laboratory, performed the FTIR and EDXRF measurements.
gin, but with the precise locality unconfirmed)
Gems & Gemology, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 112-1 20
were subsequently examined and reported in the
0 1996 GemologicalInstitute of America
Spring 1994 Gem News section ( K o i v ~ ~et l a al.,

Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996

1994a).The Summer 1995 Gem News section con-
tained a short entry specifically describing opals
from the Yita Ridge area of Shewa Province (Kam-
merling et al., 1995).
LOCATION AND ACCESS
Yita Ridge, in the Menz Gishe District of Shewa
Province, is about 240 km (150 miles) northeast of
Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa (Kammerling et al.,
1995; figure 2). The opal field lies approximately
15-20 lzm north of Mezezo, about 8 lzm off the road
between Mezezo and Hirute, which branches off
the main road between Addis Ababa and Dese. The
road between Yita Ridge and the Mezezo-Hirute
road has been washed out for about 10 years, how-
ever, so the opal area is currently accessible only by
mule trail or helicopter (T.Yohannes, pers. comm.,
December 1995).
The opal-bearing roclzs outcrop along the north
flank of Yita Ridge, at about 2,450 m elevation.
The surrounding area is predominantly agricultural
(figure3).
GEOLOGY AND OCCURRENCE
The opal-bearing area lies in a large volcanic field
just west of the northern Great Rift Valley of
Ethiopia (the valley of the Awash River, in this
area), according to Mr. Telahun Yohannes, of the
Ethio-American Resource Development Corporation,
Figure 1. Gem-quality opal was recently discovered
a joint Ethiopia-U.S. firm that is mining the area. in Shewn Province, Ethiopia. These four opals
The opal nodules (figure 4) occur in a continuous demonstrate the range in body color and play-of-
layer of welded tuff (approaching obsidian in char- color in stones from that locality. Clockwise
acter), about 3 m thiclz, that lies between more from top, 7.52 ct cabochon, 2.15 ct round bril-
weathered (decomposing)rhyolite layers. The beds liant, 4.04 ct cabochon, and 2.31 ct triangls mod-
have been uplifted and tilted slightly since deposi- ified brilliant. Photo 0 GIA and Tino Hammid.
tion, but they are still more-or-less horizontal. The
entire sequence of volcanic rocks, about 300400 in
thiclz, is probably part of the Amba Alaji rhyolites, the opal-bearing outcrops, and assessing the quality
which are Miocene in age (8 to 27 million years and quantity of opal present-will be completed
old; Merla et al., 1979). The opal nodules average before the end of 1996. The few (less than 20) inin-
about 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter. ers now working in the area use hand tools only, as
the opal is too fragile for blasting (figure 5). In the
PROSPECTING AND MINING future, however, road-grading equipment may be
Only a small amount of material (about 200 1%)has used to remove the decomposed rhyolite above the
been produced so far, all from surface and near-sur- opal-bearing layer.
face occurrences. Although the opal-bearing layer is As of December 1995, on the basis of these out-
primarily horizontal, the steep, gulch-like nature of crops of opal-containing rock, the gem field had been
the topography means that this layer outcrops in estimated visually to extend over an area of at least 7
many places. The decision to begin commercial x 7 l a . It has also been estimated, from opal nodules
production is pending completion of surveys of the randomly gathered from 12 area sites, that about
area to determine the economic feasibility of the 15% of the opal recovered is gem quality. About 1%
deposit. It is expected that these surveys-tracking of this gem opal shows distinct play-of-color.

Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996

 Figure 2,Opals are found along Yita Ridge in the Menz Gishe
district of Shewa Province, Ethiopia. Location map on the
lower left modified from Ethiopian Tourist Commission map
(1992);opal locality map modified from one provided by
Telahun Yohannes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS color of the stones) were observed using a Beck
We examined 19 fashioned stones-six faceted prism-type spectroscope. The Chelsea color filter
(0.55480 ct) and 13 cabochons (0.83-19.71 ct)- reaction was determined with illumination from a
and over 250 grams of rough, including sections of spectroscope base. Internal features were observed
several different nodules. We viewed the face up with a standard gemological microscope and bright-
colors using both fluorescent and incandescent illu- field, darlzfield, and oblique fiber-optic illumina-
mination. We observed play-of-color with the stone tion, as well as polarizing filters.
against a dark background and spot illumination Trace-element chemistry was determined qual-
placed above and then perpendicular to the viewing itatively by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence
direction (the latter to observe any contra luz [EDXRF) spectrometry, using a Tracer X-ray
effect). Refractive indices were measured with a Spectrace 5000 unit with a rhodium-target X-ray
Duplex II refractometer and a near-monochromat- tube. Mid-infrared FTIR absorption spectra were
ic, Na-equivalent light source. Specific gravity was taken with a Nicolet Magna-IR Model 550 spec-
determined by hydrostatic weighing; in those sev- trometer, with data collected in the range between
eral cases where the stone absorbed water, we 6000 and 4000 cm-1. We employed X-ray powder
reported only the first result, which should be diffraction analysis to identify some included mate-
regarded as a minimum S.G. for t h a t stone. rials, using a Debye-Scherrer camera mounted on a
Ultraviolet fluorescence was observed in a darlz- Siemens Kristalloflex X-ray generator.
ened room using a controlled viewing environment Eight partially polished pieces were tested for
and a short-wavellong-waveW lamp. Polarization durability. We exposed four samples to light and
behavior was noted using a GIA GEM Illuminator heat by placing them on a black surface, 8 cm from
polariscope, and absorption spectra (for the body a 100-watt, high-intensity incandescent light, for

114 Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996
 Figure 3. The area in
which the opal nod-
ules are found is
very rural, consist-
ing primarily of
numerous small
farms and villages.
Photo courtesy of
Telahun Yohannes.

24-hour periods up to a total of 192 hours (the tem- minated from the side or rear; figure 7.) The blaclz
perature of the blaclz surface reached 155~-about opal doublet had good play-of-color face up.
6 8 ~to) simulate shop-window conditions. Another
four pieces were immersed in water for a few hours Diaphaneity. The fashioned samples were transpar-
and dried in air to a constant weight (about 24 ent to opaque. The darker they were, the less trans-
hours), for two cycles, to test the effects of drastic parent they became.
humidity changes. Refractive Index. Refractive indices ranged between
1.40 and 1.45. In six cases, a second R.I. could be
APPEARANCE AND
seen, usually a t 1.45; this effect resembled the
GEMOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
anomalous R.I. seen in some tourmaline (illustrated
Color. The fashioned stones were near-colorless, in Koivula et al., 1994b).
milky white, and yellow through orange to brown
(again, see figure 1); one cabochon was pinkish
brown. T h e two darkest stones had brown and Figure 4. Opal nodules (the split one on the dark rock
blaclz body colors; however, the darkest stone was a is about 10 c m in diameter) are abundant in the rhy-
doublet that had been backed with blaclz obsidian, olitic welded tuff, a rock that approaches obsidian i n
character. Photo courtesy of Telahun Yohannes.
which affected the apparent body color. Most of the
material was suitable for jewelry (figure 6).

Play-of-Color. Two dark brown opals showed good

play-of-color face-up, and the lighter stones had
good (one example), moderate (four examples),
weak (one example), or n o play-of color when
viewed face-up. Nine stones showed contra luz
play-of-color. (The play-of-color is designated "con-
tra l ~ i z "if i t is seen with transmitted light-as
described by Koivula and Kammerling [I9881 and
Smith [I9881 for the Opal Butte material. For our
nine contra luz samples, we saw play-of-color when
we viewed the stones face up while they were illu-

Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996

 even yellow-green (with no phosphorescence);
slightly chalky faint (even] to weak (uneven) yel-
low-green; slightly chalky faint-to-weak blue; inert;
faint even blue-white; faint uneven blue and yel-
low; and faint even orange. The doublet was inert
to long-wave W radiation, but it fluoresced a weak
even yellowish green to short-wave W.

Specific Gravity. The hydrostatic measurements

ranged between 1.35 and 2.03; samples that did not
soak up water were in the 1.87-2.03 range. Most of
the near-colorless opals had specific gravities of 2.0
or higher. Seven stones changed their weights
noticeably by soaking up water during the S.G.
measurements: two near-colorless opals, two milky
white opals, and one each orangy brown, light
pinkish brown, and mottled yellow.

Microscopy/Inclusions. Solid inclusions were rela-

tively common in the fashioned Ethiopian opals.

Figure 6. As these three pendants indicate, the

Ethiopian opals (2.31-7.52 ct) make attractive
jewelry stones. Jewelry courtesy of (he Gold Rush,
Figure 5. Workers remove opal nodules from a sam- Northridge, California;photo by Shane F. McClure.
ple pit in this outcrop of the opal-bearing welded tuff
zone. Photo courtesy of Telahun Yohannes.

Polariscope Reaction. Twelve pale-colored stones

showed weak-to-moderate anomalous double refrac-
tion (ADR)when viewed between crossed polarizing
filters. Two darker stones showed no ADR.
Optical Absorption Spectrum. No spectrum was
seen in the 14 lightest-color stones with the hand
spectroscope. Three stones showed lower cutoff
edges at 510 (yellow stone), 530 (yellowish orange),
and 600 nm (brown).One mottled brown stone
showed a band between 550 and 590 nm, a lower
cutoff at 520 nm, and an upper cutoff at 670 nm.
Color filter. Two brown stones appeared red when
viewed through the Chelsea color filter.
Fluorescence to UV Radiation. We observed the fol-
lowing reactions to long-wave UV radiation: faint-
to-weak, even yellow-green (with weak phospho-
rescence); slightly chalky faint blue (moderate
whitish blue); inert; faint uneven blue and yellow;
and faint even orange. When the stones were
exposed to short-wave UV,we saw: faint-to-strong,

116 Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996
 Figure 7. This piece of
rough Ethiopian opal
illustrates the contra luz
effect:With darkfield illu-
mination (left)no play-of-
color is seen; with fiber-
optic illumination from
the side (right),strong
play-of-coloris visible.
Photomicrograph by John
I. Koivula; magnified 4x.

Most of the transparent-to-translucent gems con- (on the basis of their brassy metallic luster and
tained tiny crystals of unknown composition. square outline). Similarly, the red-brown grains
Perhaps the most distinct inclusions (because of might be pyrite altered to hematite.
their color) were randomly scattered red-brown Also present, although much less common,
grains (figure8). were tiny white to near-colorless grains that
Intermixed with the red-brown grains were revealed no distinct form (visiblein figures 8, 9, and
numerous small, opaque, blaclz grains (figure 9). 10; see also figure 11).Like the black and red-brown
Some of these appeared a dark, brassy yellow when inclusions, these particles were too small to be
they were examined from above with a strong pin- identified by the methods available to us.
point fiber-optic light. Although most of the miner- The most distinctive inclusion type-and the
al grains were extremely small, a few of the largest rarest-was observed in only one stone. These
were surrounded by small tension cracks (figure inclusions had the appearance of elongated, rough-
101, which were probably caused by a difference in sided "voids" or "tube systems" (figure 11). All
volumetric expansion between the inclusions and reached the surface of their host and were partially
the enclosing opal. packed with what apparently was a light brown-to-
Many of the red-brown and blaclz inclusions white, semi-translucent epigenetic matter. At the
appeared to have a square cross section or outline, interface with the surrounding opal, the surfaces of
indicating that they might be isometric. Even the these "tubes" were randomly spotted with tiny red-
largest of these inclusions was too small for X-ray brown and blaclz grains, similar to those previously
diffraction analysis, however, so their identity is described. In comparable inclusions seen in opals
still unlznown. Although there is no direct proof, from Mexico (Koivula et al., 1983), the voids once
we speculate that the blaclz grains might be pyrite contained hornblende crystals that had dissolved
away and been replaced by, or partially filled with,
Figure 8. Tiny red-browngrains were visible with
magnification in most of the Ethiopian opals. In
some stones, small near-colorless crystals were Figme 9. These small opaque grains (in a 4.77 ct
also seen. Photomicrograph by John I. Koivula; Ethiopian opal) may be pyrite crystals.
magnified 5 0 ~ . Photomicrograph by John I. Koivula; magnified 20~.

Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996

Figure 10. Some of the largest black mineral grains
were surrounded by tension cracks. Photomicro-
graph by John I. Koivula; magnified 4 0 ~ .

Figure 11. Rough-sided epigenetically filled

limonite and a white kaolinitic clay. Because we "tubes," similar LO those seen in some opals from
could not perform destructive tests on the sample Querbtaro, Mexico, were observed in this 3.57 ct
loaned to us for this study, however, we could not Ethiopian opal cabochon. Photomicrograph by
determine the identity of the filling material in this JohnI. Koivula; magnified 1 5 ~ .
Ethiopian opal.
When opal nodules are freed from the rhyolite rubidium (17 stones), or niobium (15 stones); and
matrix, a black crust is sometimes visible on both some stones also contained trace amounts of cop-
the surfaces of the rough opals and on the rhyolite per (10 stones), yttrium (8 stones), zinc (7 stones),
itself (figure 12); it may also be present in the lead (6 stones), titanium (5 stones), manganese (3
cracks in some gem opals. An X-ray powder diffrac- stones), chromium (2 stones), barium (2 stones), or
tion pattern, obtained from a scraping taken from gallium (1stone).
one of these blaclz crusts, matched that of the black
manganese oxide ramsdellite. STABILITY AND DURABILITY TESTING
Only the two opaque dark brown oval cabo- Very little has been published about testing opals
chons showed any obvious flow structure. This for durability. Pearson (1985)tested opals for craz-
resulted from varying degrees of iron pigmentation, ing by refluxing them in flammable organic liquids;
and it was manifested in the form of light brown however, we did not try to duplicate this test
veins and fingers extending into and through a because the materials involved are hazardous. A
much darker brown opal groundmass (figure 13).In
one of these stones, a cell-like structure had formed
where the light brown areas surrounded the darker Figure 12. Black flakes of ramsdellite were some-
areas. This was particularly obvious in oblique times visible at the interface between the opal and
reflected light, in which the dark brown "cells" its matrix and may occur in the cracks in some
rough and fashioned Ethiopian opal.
showed strong play-of-color(figure 14). Photomicrograph by JohnI. Koivula; magnified 5x.
SPECTRAL AND CHEMICAL ANALYSES
Infrared Spectrum. All the stones showed a typical
opal spectrum in the range between 6000 and 4000
cm-1 (seeFritsch and Stockton, 1987, for comparison).

Chemistry. Qualitative EDXRF analyses were per-

formed on all 19 fashioned stones and on two
pieces of matrix-free rough. For each stone, the
only major element seen was silicon. Every stone
also contained detectable trace amounts of calci-
um, iron, strontium, and zirconium; most stones
contained trace amounts of potassium (20 stones),

118 Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996
Figure 13. Flow structure is clearly visible in this Figure 14. Play-of-colorin this 4.04 ct dark brown
2.36 ct Ethiopian opal. Photomicrograph by John Ethiopian opal is confined,to distinct "cells," sep-
I. IZoivnia; magnified 25x. arated by lighter-colored brown opal, as seen here
in oblique reflected light. Photomicrograph by
John 1. Koivula; magnified 1 5 ~ .
practical "field test" for opal stability consists of
exposing the material in a sunlit location for a few
months, then recovering the undamaged remnants, Under these conditions, the contra luz and the serni-
according to Smith (1988),who also recommended translucent gray opals did not change. The two other
a slow-drying technique to stabilize Oregon opal. stones had developed craclzs when first examined
He estimated that about 20% of the "fire opal" after 24 hours (figure 15); these craclzs increased in
from Opal Butte, Oregon, was stable. size with subsequent exposure, but no new ones
The lack of consensus in the literature led us to formed. It is interesting to note that during the first
develop a few simple tests based on the assumption 24-hour test period, the semi-transparent gray stone
that gradual or sudden dehydration/rehydration was developed a transparent outer layer (figure 16) that
the process most likely to affect opals. Although we did not extend further into the stone on subsequent
could not subject the fashioned stones we had bor- exposure, although craclzs formed during the same
rowed to destructive testing, Mr. Yohannes kindly period did grow. No additional changes were noted
allowed us to do durability testing on some of the in any stone after 96 hours' exposure, which sug-
rough material. We had a flat surface polished on gests that an exposure test such as this one may be
each of eight pieces of rough-two each of seini- sufficient to separate durable from easily crazed
transparent yellow contra luz, semi-transparent gray, Ethiopian opals.
semi-translucent yellow, and semi-translucent gray Sudden changes in water-vapor pressure were
opal. We then divided the stones into two groups for accomplished by repeated hydrostatic specific-gravi-
testing, one for gradual dehydration and the other for ty determinations. Between each test, we allowed
sudden changes in water-vapor pressure. Because of the stones to dry completely (until the weight did
the limited amount of material tested, we regard our not change). The contra luz and semi-transparent
results as informative but not definitive. gray opals showed weight fluctuations of about
Gradual dehydration was simulated under "shop 0.5-0.6 wt.% between wet and dry conditions, with
window" conditions: a bright light source and a significant cracking after the second humidity-
black background (see "Materials and Methods"). change test. The two semi-translucent opals (yellow

Figure 15. This 7.74 ct

piece of rough yellow
Ethiopian opal (left)
cracked during 24 hours'
exposure to light and
heat (right).Photos by
John I. Koivula.

Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996 119
Figure 16. A 9.59 C Lpiece of semi-transparent gray Ethiopian opal (left, before testing) showed "clarification"of
the less transparent areas and a fewincipient cracks after 24 hours' exposure to "shop window" conditions
(center);by 48 hours (right),the clacks had extended through the stone. Photos by John I. Koivula.

and gray) developed less-pronounced cracking after CONCLUSION

two cycles, despite far greater weight fluctuations of A new source for precious opal is being evaluated at
about 11 and 18 wt.%, respectively. The weight Yita Ridge, in the Menz Gishe district of Shewa
gains (with soaking) and losses (as the stones dried) Province, Ethiopia. The nodules occur in a broad
did not vary much with repeated soaking and dry- range of body colors and play-of-color, including
ing, indicating no permanent gain or loss of water. excellent contra luz material. Tiny red and black
Note, however, that we consider this test inherent- particles are pervasive throughout even the most
ly destructive and do not recommend any "real transparent opals; among the other inclusions noted
world" equivalent-such as wearing an opal ring were hollow tubes and black platy manganese
while washing dishes-for any opal. oxides. As with opals from other regions (including
In addition, the fashioned stones were exposed the similar volcanic environments of Querktaro,
to variable temperature and humidity in open plas- Mexico, and Opal Butte, Oregon), durability is a
tic bags for six months in our laboratory. During potential cause for concern. Only time will tell if
this time, external (relative)humidity fluctuated full-scale mining at Yita Ridge will prove to be eco-
between about 10% and 70%. One stone-the nomically feasible. However, current indications are
black opal doublet-crazed, but none of the other that some material will continue to reach the world
stones was affected. market even if only small-scale mining continues.

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120 Notes & New Techniques GEMS & GEMOLOGY Summer 1996