Gemstones and Minerals in Texas

 A longtime Houston resident, Joel A. Bartsch has served as the president and CEO of the Houston Museum of Natural Science since 2004. In this capacity, he supervises curators and museum personnel, coordinating their efforts to create immersive exhibitions. Joel Bartsch has a particular interest in gems and mineralogy.

Texas is recognized for its ample energy resources, but not for precious gemstones and minerals. In fact, no precious gemstone is mined in Texas. That said, the state is the home of Texas Blue Topaz - a gemstone with a characteristic blue color that makes it usable for making gem-quality jewelry. In the past, Texas Blue Topaz was considered a precious gem because the color was rarely found elsewhere in the U.S. But its value depreciated when a process for converting colorless topaz to blue topaz was developed. Blue topaz is found naturally in the Llano uplift area of Central Texas, but it is not mined commercially.

Another notable gemstone in Texas is petrified palm wood. Also called Texas State Stone, petrified palmwood is the fossilized wood of palm trees that lived roughly 20 to 40 million years ago. These hard minerals exhibit soft luster and hues of green, orange, and blue. They are semi-precious gemstones with applications in jewelry making, paperweight manufacturing, and paleontological research, among others.