Whitby Shopping Street
Whitby Jet
Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure.
The English noun “jet” derives from the French word for the same material: jaiet. The adjective “jet-black”, meaning as dark a black as possible, derives from this material.
Jet is either black or dark brown, but may contain pyrite inclusions, which are of brassy colour and metallic lustre.
Jet is a product of high pressure decomposition of wood from millions of years ago, commonly the wood of trees of the family Araucariaceae. Jet is found in two forms, hard and soft. Hard jet is the result of the carbon compression and salt water; soft jet is the result of the carbon compression and fresh water.
The jet found at Whitby, England is of early Jurassic (Toarcian) age, approximately 182 million years old.
