BOU014 · research depth + media provenance
Boulder Opal Research Archive
Trace claims back to geology, gemology, museum terminology, bibliography trails and archive records. Every source and media record carries a scope or rights state so research depth never becomes silent overclaiming.
Browse Boulder Opal Universe sections
Research boundary: a bibliography entry is not automatically reviewed evidence, an open-license photograph is not provenance proof, an in-copyright archive can be useful without being reusable, and BOU-original diagrams are explanatory rather than scientific observations. No origin prediction, authentication, treatment diagnosis, appraisal, rarity/investment ranking or live travel-status claim is created here.
Original explanatory media
Three diagrams, zero fabricated specimens.
These programmatic illustrations are BOU-original teaching media. They make structure and provenance legible without impersonating real field evidence.
Conceptual weathered profile · not to scale · not a mine section
Weathered-profile research frame
Use this to follow the broad Winton Formation/deep-weathering literature trail, then return to source-specific geology for detail.
BOU014-MEDIA-001 · Sources BOU014-SRC-001/003/004
Source→Scoped claim→BOU surface→Typed relationship
Workflow diagram · provenance chain, not external evidenceEvidence provenance chain
BOU distinguishes what a source says from how the site organizes and teaches that information.
BOU014-MEDIA-002 · BOU original
BOU original · reusable inside BOU
Open-license · attribution/license obligations apply
Government publication · verify asset-level terms
In copyright / unclear · link, do not copy
Asset-level rights ladder
A rights-safe research archive can link useful material without pretending that access permission equals republication permission.
BOU014-MEDIA-003 · BOU original
Long-tail research map
Follow questions instead of flattening the subject.
Each lane states its scope and evidence basis, then returns to the BOU surface where that research is applied.
Weathered-profile geology
How deep chemical alteration, Winton Formation rocks and iron-rich zones frame the broad geological problem.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-001 · BOU014-SRC-003 · BOU014-SRC-004 · BOU014-SRC-002
Follow this lane →Field-scoped geology
Keep Koroit, Yowah, Quilpie, Winton and other localities distinct rather than turning one field observation into a Queensland-wide rule.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-006 · BOU014-SRC-005
Follow this lane →Documented specimen records
Trace specimen statements back to field reports, collection captions and rights status rather than visual similarity.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-006 · BOU014-SRC-014
Follow this lane →Nomenclature + descriptive language
Separate museum/gemological definitions, source-listed terminology and later bibliography leads.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-009 · BOU014-SRC-010 · BOU014-SRC-007
Follow this lane →Pattern microstructure research
Explore published scientific discussion of digit/polygon structures without using pattern as an origin or treatment detector.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-008
Follow this lane →Lapidary scholarship
Study planning, preservation and evaluation literature while keeping BOU’s cutting simulator non-prescriptive for real stones.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-001 · BOU014-SRC-005 · BOU014-SRC-009
Follow this lane →Mining + field history
Use contemporary and archival research to build chronology without converting historical workings into current access claims.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-005 · BOU014-SRC-006 · BOU014-SRC-011
Follow this lane →Analytical-method bibliography
Keep spectroscopy and trace-element papers as research leads until their methods and limitations are reviewed directly.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-007
Follow this lane →Archive navigation + rights
Distinguish unrestricted access, copyright status, open licenses and BOU-original media before any asset is reused.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-011 · BOU014-SRC-012 · BOU014-SRC-013
Follow this lane →Research index + bibliography trails
Use bibliographic indexes to find primary literature, then mark unreviewed leads instead of silently promoting them to established BOU claims.
Sources · BOU014-SRC-002 · BOU014-SRC-007 · BOU014-SRC-015
Follow this lane →Source library
Filter by subject class, rights state or text.
Filtering changes only what you see. Every record stays in the HTML and remains available without JavaScript.
15 of 15 source records shown.
Opal | Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia
Australian opal geology, Queensland boulder-opal distribution, ironstone occurrence and processing context.
Rights · BOU cites facts and links the page; source media is not copied.
Open sourceGeoscience Australia journals index · weathered-profile-hosted precious opal deposits
Geoscience Australia
Confirms B.R. Senior (1998), Weathered-profile-hosted precious opal deposits, AGSO Journal 17(4), pp. 225–227, as a geological research lead.
Rights · Bibliographic index only; BOU does not claim unreviewed full-text details.
Open sourceQueensland Government technical bulletin · Warlus Part 1
Queensland Government
Winton Formation lithology, deep chemical alteration and occurrence of precious opal in the altered Winton Formation within the bulletin study area.
Rights · Text used as research evidence; maps/figures are not copied because asset-level reuse terms were not independently audited.
Open sourceQueensland Government technical bulletin no. 22 · Warlus Part 2
Queensland Government
South-west Queensland Winton Formation, lateritic weathering, Tertiary cover and regional physiographic/geological context.
Rights · Text used as scoped geology evidence; bulletin figures are not copied.
Open sourceQueensland Boulder Opal
Gems & Gemology / Gemological Institute of America
Historical review, Winton Formation association, weathering profile, mining case study and gemological evaluation in a 1993 context.
Rights · Article text informs research; GIA figures/photographs are not copied.
Open sourceQueensland Opal Fields: Home of the Unique Australian Boulder Opal
Gemological Institute of America
Field-scoped observations for Koroit, Yowah, Quilpie and other Queensland opal-field contexts.
Rights · Text is cited; field photography is not reproduced.
Open sourceHistorical Reading List: Australian Opal
Gemological Institute of America
Curated bibliography leading to nomenclature, spectroscopy, trace-element and weathered-profile opal research.
Rights · BOU treats entries as bibliography leads unless the underlying full text has been independently reviewed.
Open sourceOn the Origin of Digit Patterns in Gem Opal
Gems & Gemology / Gemological Institute of America
Scientific discussion of digit/polygon pattern formation, ordered structure and related opal microstructure.
Rights · Text definitions/research discussion are linked; figures are not copied.
Open sourceOpal Quality Factors
Gemological Institute of America
Descriptive pattern vocabulary and observation/evaluation terminology.
Rights · Text definitions only; images are not reproduced.
Open sourceOpal
Australian Museum
Precious/common opal, boulder opal, matrix opal, ironstone matrix and care watchpoint terminology.
Rights · Museum page is linked for evidence; imagery is not copied.
Open sourceThe Central Queensland Project photographs
State Library of Queensland
Archival collection metadata documenting mining/community photography including Quilpie and opal exploration.
Rights · Collection is unrestricted for access but listed as in copyright; BOU provides catalogue navigation only and copies no photographs.
Open sourceVeined boulder opal from Queensland
Wikimedia Commons
Rights-cleared photographic media candidate; not treated as field/provenance evidence beyond the file description.
Rights · Creator LZ6387; attribution + ShareAlike required. Candidate is catalogued but not copied into this release.
Open sourceBoulder Opal (30836958925)
Wikimedia Commons
Rights-cleared general boulder-opal photograph; locality/provenance is not established by BOU from appearance.
Rights · Creator Tony Hisgett; attribution required. Candidate is catalogued but not copied into this release.
Open sourceSpring 1993 Gems & Gemology issue PDF
Gemological Institute of America
Primary issue containing the Queensland Boulder Opal article and documented cover specimen measurements/collection caption.
Rights · Issue states GIA copyright and credited cover photography; images are not reproduced.
Open sourceOpal research index
Gemological Institute of America
Research index connecting Queensland boulder opal with broader opal gemological literature.
Rights · Index navigation only; linked assets retain their source rights.
Open sourceBibliography trails
Promising leads stay provisional until reviewed.
The GIA historical reading list and Geoscience Australia journal index are useful discovery tools, but BOU does not silently convert a citation into a detailed factual claim.
Smallwood, A. (1997), “A New Era for Opal Nomenclature,” Australian Gemmologist 19(12), 486–496.
Cited by the GIA historical reading list. Full text was not independently reviewed for BOU014, so no detailed claim is extracted.
Status · bibliographic_lead · Basis · BOU014-SRC-007
Smallwood, A.G.; Thomas, P.S.; Ray, A.S. (1997), “Characterization of Sedimentary Opals by Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy,” Spectrochimica Acta A 53(13), 2341–2345.
Bibliographic lead for laboratory characterization; not used as a shortcut to authenticate an unknown stone.
Status · bibliographic_lead · Basis · BOU014-SRC-007
McOrist, G.D.; Smallwood, A. (1997), “Trace Elements in Precious and Common Opals using Neutron Activation and Analysis,” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 223(1/2), 9–15.
Bibliographic lead for analytical research; BOU does not infer geographic origin from unreviewed trace-element claims.
Status · bibliographic_lead · Basis · BOU014-SRC-007
Senior, B.R. (1998), “Weathered-profile-hosted precious opal deposits,” AGSO Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics 17(4), 225–227.
Existence is independently indexed by Geoscience Australia and the GIA reading list. BOU014 records the lead without inventing details beyond reviewed sources.
Status · bibliographic_lead · Basis · BOU014-SRC-002 · BOU014-SRC-007
Media provenance register
Rights status is part of the research record.
BOU014 copies no external photographs. It records reusable candidates, reference-only archives and original explanatory media separately.
AssetKindRightsBOU use
Conceptual weathered-profile research diagramprogrammatic_diagramBOU_ORIGINALOriginal HTML/CSS diagram. It is not a geological map, mine section or specimen.
Evidence provenance chain diagramprogrammatic_diagramBOU_ORIGINALOriginal diagram showing Source → scoped claim → BOU surface → typed relationship.
Media rights decision ladderprogrammatic_diagramBOU_ORIGINALOriginal diagram explaining BOU reuse states.
Veined boulder opal from Queenslandexternal_open_media_candidateCC_BY_SA_4_0Open-license candidate catalogued for possible future reuse with attribution and ShareAlike compliance.
Boulder Opal (30836958925)external_open_media_candidateCC_BY_2_0Open-license candidate catalogued for possible future reuse. It is not used as locality/provenance evidence.
The Central Queensland Project photographsexternal_archive_collectionIN_COPYRIGHTArchive access is unrestricted, but the collection is listed as in copyright. BOU links the catalogue and does not reproduce the photographs.
Gems & Gemology Queensland Boulder Opal imageryexternal_journal_mediaCOPYRIGHTED_EXTERNAL_REFERENCEPhotographs/figures are evidence-bearing external media and are not copied into BOU.
Continue the evidence trail
Research should send you back to the subject.
These are navigation links, not recommendation or appraisal claims.
Research practice
A five-step method for staying inside the evidence.
Use this method before turning a source, image or field label into a claim.
Name the question
Separate description, provenance, formation, identification, treatment, rights and value.
Prefer source records
Use source IDs and locators for specimen facts. Do not transfer a field claim to an unlinked specimen.
Record uncertainty
Keep missing dimensions, unknown treatment and unresolved provenance explicit.
Check media rights
A factual source can be citable even when its photograph is not reusable by ICU.
Escalate when needed
Use qualified gemological testing when a consequential identity or treatment question exceeds documentary evidence.
ICU / CONNECTED DISCOVERY
Continue through related ideas.
These are bounded editorial connections; paid placement does not influence them.
Loading public connections…
See reverse connections
ICU evidence lens
Reviewed sources and bibliography leads remain different things.
Source-backed15 sources4 provisional leads
The BOU research dataset records 15 research sources, 4 bibliography leads, and 7 media-rights records. The territory check date is 2026-09-11; lead status is not promoted to reviewed full-text evidence.
- Territory checked
- 2026-09-11
- Research sources
- 15
- Bibliography leads
- 4
- Rights
- Asset-level rights state remains separate from provenance
How ICU evidence, freshness, provenance, uncertainty, and rights labels work.