Azabache de Asturias

Black Jet comes from a family tree that became extinct Jurassic some 65 million years while the dinosaurs, according unveils the first multidisciplinary scientific study on the origin of this mineral of high economic value and craftsmanship.

The study by biologists, geologists and chemists at the University of Oviedo and the Instituto Nacional del Carbon (INCAR-CSIC) reveals that the jet comes from trees belonging to the group protopináceas-fossil plant family that lived between 200 and makes 65 million years, and refutes the widespread belief that comes from the Araucaria timber, tree species still abundant in Latin American countries.
 
The protopináceas are trees that grow to a 10 to 20 meters tall with a straight trunk to look like palm trees and is branched at the top of irregular shape, while the last branches bifurcate with the appearance of flake-like green leaves grouped in cones and seeds.

The botanist at the University of Oviedo Tomas Diaz Gonzalez explained that an analysis of the internal structure of the ore extracted from Asturias and Teruel-two of the few sites in Spain, “leaves no doubt” about the finding, and noted that it is an improvement “first magnitude” in the knowledge of the Jurassic flora of the Iberian Peninsula. Jet samples analyzed belong to the genera Brachyoxylon and Protocupressinoxylon.