Obsidain--Glass From the Volcano: Part 3, Location! Location! Location!

Since obsidian is of volcanic origin it could be found wherever there is or has been volcanic activity. Some important sources are: Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Hawaii, Oregon, Japan, Mexico, the Indonesian island of Java, Guatemala, Iceland, Ecuador, and Italy’s Lipari Islands.
Another famous source of obsidian is Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming. Many scientists assume that there was a volcanic eruption there many years ago, so it makes sense that one can find obsidian there. (There is actually a large outcrop of the stone in the park called “Obsidian Cliff.”) I myself found two nice pieces of obsidian in Yellowstone when my family and I went there last year. One was a nice glassy, black, translucent chip about the size of a quarter and the other was a black, nearly opaque, broken lump with beautiful spheres of white minerals in it, one of which was exposed by a break. Unfortunately, I couldn’t add these to my collection because it is illegal to remove minerals from a national park! I was, however, able to photograph them and I’ve used the photo of the little chip as this post’s picture.
Next week I will make my final obsidian post (for now, anyway) which explores obsidian’s curious properties.