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Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
An International Geoscience Journal of the Geological Society of Australia
Volume 69, 2022 - Issue 4
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Review Article

A review of the occurrence of and potential for jade in the New Guinea Mobile Belt

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Pages 453-472 | Received 03 Aug 2021, Accepted 12 Oct 2021, Published online: 22 Nov 2021
 

Abstract

Gemmologists distinguish two rock types in the jade group: nephrite and jadeite jade (or jadeitite). Both are extremely tough monomineralic rocks. New Guinea is favourable for jade occurrence. Giant faults of the New Guinea Mobile Belt (NGMB) extend the 2200 km length of the island and are associated with extensive linear belts of tectonised and serpentinised ultramafic rocks and metabasites, blueschist rocks, intrusive masses of serpentinite containing tectonic inclusions, tremolitised rocks and talc. Geological conditions are favourable for serpentinite-related metasomatic and carbonate replacement nephrite deposits and serpentinite-related vein and pod jadeite jade deposits. Jade is found in eastern New Guinea in the Suckling–Dayman massif, where widespread nineteenth-century use of nephrite tools, including adze blades, axe blades and lime spatulas, occurred in surrounding coastal and inland villages in the Cloudy Bay, Collingwood Bay, Holincote Bay and Musa River region. Several quarries are located along the Mai’iu Fault. Nephrite is also recorded in the Kumusi River area, east of Kokoda. In the Central Fold Belt, jadeite jade, omphacitic pyroxene, rodingite veins and dykes and tremolitised metabasite occur in the headwaters of the April River, Salumei River, Karawari River and Korosameri River regions, and jadeite jade and locally abundant chloromelanite occur in the headwaters of the Leonard Schultze River in the eastern and western sections, respectively, of the April–Lagaip megashear. Numerous quarries are located in the Wario River area. At the Ya’li’me quarries in the Irian Jaya Ophiolite Belt, chloromelanite was quarried for stone-tool manufacture. Jade is also found in the Cyclops Mountains–Lake Sentani ultramafic belt where blocks of chloromelanite for tool manufacture were quarried in the upper Torare River area. This paper describes the history of discoveries, presents an overview of jade petrogenesis and describes the geological settings of NGMB jade occurrences.

    KEY POINTS

  1. The geology of New Guinea is favourable for jade occurrence. Jade is found in extensive linear belts of tectonised and serpentinised ultramafic rocks and metabasites, blueschist rocks, intrusive masses of serpentinite, tremolitised rocks and talc.

  2. The use of jade was widespread in parts of eastern New Guinea in the nineteenth century. Nephrite tools (adze blades, axe blades and lime spatulas) were common in coastal and inland villages in an area including Cloudy Bay, Collingwood Bay, Holincote Bay and the Musa River.

  3. Jade is known from three localities in the Central Fold Belt of New Guinea. Jadeite jade, locally abundant chloromelanite and omphacitic pyroxene are found in the April–Lagaip megashear. Chloromelanite is found in the Ya’li’me quarries, located in the Irian Jaya Ophiolite Belt.

  4. Chloromelanite was quarried in the Cyclops Mountains–Lake Sentani region. Blocks used in the manufacture of adze blades and other implements were sourced from upper Torare River. Some tools were traded widely, including across the Bismarck Archipelago to Emirau Island.

Acknowledgements

The senior author, by chance, first viewed nephrite samples from Northern Province, PNG, in the collection of John Douglas, Port Moresby, in August 2012. Our research prior to and since that date has indicated the presence of nephrite in the area centred on the Suckling–Dayman massif. We are grateful to John. We thank Hugh L. Davies for sharing his recollections (in November 2009) of possible nephrite occurrences observed during his many years of fieldwork in the Papuan Ultramafic Belt. Richard Martin, Director, Culture and Heritage Unit, and Michael Aird, Director, Anthropology Museum, both at the University of Queensland, provided assistance with our unsuccessful attempts to locate the Collingwood Bay nephrite blades studied by Robert L. Jack of the Geological Survey of Queensland in 1892. George Harlow of the American Museum of Natural History kindly provided reprints of his Emirau Island paper and his 2012 AGU Fall Meeting poster. The comments of reviewers Bill Birch and Kim Jessop greatly improved the structure and overall readability of our paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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