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FOR THE SCIENTIFIC MINDED COLLECTOR, LAPIDARY, OR EDUCATOR, or that whispful Atlantian, I will attempt to write a helpful shopping guide for stromatolites and more on appreciating the most under rated fossils, no respect at all....
A trophy eocene museum display head!
mjwy, Millennium Jade of Wyoming has been field collecting and studying stromatolites for over nine years. I have been marketing my finds for over eight years now. Freemansfossilsales is the new business name. see the web/google it.
Many of the shopping mechanics for stromatolites are similiar to buying great petrified wood or other premium fossil specimens. Great pictures~the more the merrier; great discriptions especially detailed measurements and weights, including information on location, geologic formations, and age are very important. Genus and species add to the total value of the specimen, get them when you can. Good sellers know their product, and have approperiate reference materials with answers. Google is your friend.
I do not profess to acknowledge all the metaphysical "powers" of stromatolites but do find great pleasure and satisfaction from field collecting and repeated handling of my specimens at home. I would feel the same way about a good dog. Stromatolites are the Rodney Dangerfield of the fossil world. No respect considering what they have done for planet Earth, yawn, like making the oxygen we all breathe today, sigh, and I roll my eyes in satire since I now have your attention.
Although a buying and aquiring guide, there is no substitute for sitting one's hiney in the dirt and therapeutically digging your own specimens. Grounding and personal reward comes to mind. Fulfillment of life, full understanding of one's place in the chain of life, and naturally a sore back accompanied by a rich and dream filled night's sleep. Stromatolites are very natural to have in one's life, and are very rewarding to collect around ones-self.
The SUISEKI value is established and with errosional factors of both wind and water, many specimens are a true work of art in that field. I run across some and cherish them.
Some folks prefer to develop a collecting stratigy, and some just love to collect without a plan of size, locations, ages, etc. I prefer mixing my stromatolites to include whole complete heads, sliced specimens, and some that have a contour polish. Big character is everything when I can get big character. I enjoy the great diversity of ages and physical characteristics. Some of my children live out of doors on the patio, or in the rock garden, and the hundred pounders ring the flower bed. My tender sliced accomplices live in a display case or on a thrifty dollar store type stand that can be had on ebay as well. They even dress up that bonsi specimen and have the greatest fen shuy potential of most rock specimens for providing that aspect of the natural rock living in a statuesque form.
Things to think over. If a natural or contour polished head, does it stand up nicely and show on it's own or do you require a stand or other method of displaying the specimen? Beware of slices cut to thin as they will be more fragile. Slices will need a stand usually. Idea, stromatolites of natural beauty make great dress up ornaments for flower pots! On the other side, take the time to look at all of the amazing spheres that stromatolites are cut into today, they are truely magnificent...although somewhat pricy. Stromatolite jewelry has been around since saws and polishing has been going on. Much is very fashionable with gold and silver findings.
Google searching locations and formations will be quite helpful for further information. Wikipedia has an excellent introduction page on stromatolites which is understandable to the lay person.
Stromatolites grew, and grow, in heads, in mats, or on other structures. For the most part it had the living consistancy of cottage cheese. I like to think of it as a primative pond slime that was smarter. It survived for so long, it must have had some smarts, right? See below the picture of a great brain phase eocene stromatolite. Presently, it is 1/2 restored, and is residing in my sun room. Very big on character!
Early stromatolites are commonly associated with limestone or dolomite occurances due to the original living stromatolite being a limy algae. Through geologic processes, many occurances have silica perculated in (permineralization) to fortify the stromatolites with a stronger fossilization. Some stromatolites have not been exposed to the better silification and are softer and easier to cut and polish. My eocene stromatolites are quite hard (7 - 7 1/2 mohs) and tough due to the silica fortification. They remind me of the hard to cut and polish Arizona petrified wood. It makes one more patient to work with this material. Many of the archaean age stromatolites are hardness of 5 or less due to the less exposure to silica. Banded Iron Formation materials such as Mary Ellen Jasper are stromatolite with iron fortification and then silification. Kona dolomite is softer as are the materials of SE Wyoming's archean age.
Many states in the U.S. have fossil and even some rare living stromatolites, and you may have a location, or a new location yet to be discovered near you. For fossil specimens, check any limestone quarry, or where marble ornamental stone is quarried. Iron mining operations offer an excellent chance to find a banded iron stromatolite formation.
There is some debate yet today of what exactly is a fossil stromatolite, is is a trace fossil? I do not think so when I have whole complete faithfully preserved heads to play with...piles of them. I deal in inchno fossils and there is not much in commonality there.
There are a couple of excellent stromatolite books out, Cradle of Life, The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils by J. William Schopf, and Life on a Young Planet, The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth by Andrew H. Knoll. Both books are extremely technical and rugged reading the first time through if you don't have a good science/biology/geology background BUT you will learn to understand more each time you pick up one of these books to study.
The study of early Earth would not be possible without stromatolites as they ARE the fossils of time. Life's earliest inhabitants of Earth and quite possibly the solar system may be stromatolites. OOPS, DID I FORGET TO MENTION, THEY MADE THE OXYGEN WE BREATHE TODAY (See, the Rodney Dangerfield effect they have on even me)? More will be understood about the early solar system through meteorite studies and there is a group that feel that comets and possibly metorites brought the stromatolite bacteria to early Earth. Hot water stromatolites are now being studied near here at Yellowstone National Park. The stromatolites flourish in the really hot water and that stromatolite DNA may have some very scientific/medical usefullness.
Mars has yet to produce a stromatolite but the rovers continue onward after a few years of searching. I have sold stromatolite to NASA and other institutions for study.
The oldest stromatolites of the fossil record are the Apex Chert from western Australia, it's first birthday was 3.5 billion years ago. I have attempted to get some of this material for study, and the Australian government officials do not allow export of this highly scientific material (UNESCO site too). Google search Shark Bay Australia for even more fun! Compare the living stromatolite photos to some of my fossilized whole head offerings.
If you are a wood collector and looking for something MORE interesting to collect, to do lapidary work with, or for further study, try stromatolite collecting. It may be more plentiful in your local vicinity than petrified wood! If you live in the NE or near Saratoga Springs, NY, or anywhere in the Great Lakes Region, or Ohio Valley, or especially Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Montana to Texas, California to Washington state, you have a stromatolite near you!
When purchasing, you will get what you pay for most of the time. Sleezy feed back and just a single picture with no real discription is not necessarily the best buy. Moving on, good luck collecting, hunting afield, and get a good book on stromatolites. Please note I have avoided the bluegreen algae discussion, the archaea, and prokaryotae as they are above the level of beginning stromatolite collectors and that knowledge will come through the above recommended books or more web research as the student becomes more stromatolite proficient. Buy a nice piece of rough or a slice that's affordable, and begin your journey young grasshopper. Stromatolites are fun, easy, and very rewarding to study. They are in my mind, the most fascinating fossil there is to collect; even above dinosaurs, fossil fishes~even meteorites! Every one has meteorites, who has stromatolites?
Stromatolites, the Rodney Dangerfield of the fossil collecting and lapidary world.
Thanking you,
mjwy Southwestern Wyoming
Member of the International Fossil Algae Association.
Member of AAPS paleontological group too!
I would love to be a top 500 reviewer.
Voting is free and your vote is appreciated.
Voting is free and your vote is appreciated.
NEW 121 pound brain discovery 12/8/06
presently under restoration. Note the white
colored lime freshly leaching out of the specimen.
75 pound slicer, see slices below!presently under restoration. Note the white
colored lime freshly leaching out of the specimen.
Watery habitat NICE tidy brain
All four above are Chlorellopsis coloniata Reis, 50 MYO
Above two pictures are of a very large Eumonera cryptozoon,
and even larger Hadrophycus immanmus, both 2.58 BYO!
Fossilized Chlorellopsis coloniata Reis displayed in a natural setting, legendary Bitter Creek! Yes I have since washed my hands and specimens with bleach. Do not they look like living Shark Bay specimens of today? Very faithful preservation.
Very nice specimen grade.
preserved between the columns. Eocene age SW Wyoming. Slices polish well and detail is excellent. The slices are of the interior of specimens. Got saw? Got vote? 63 people voted out of 3,029 visitors. Sad. Very sad. One of 48.
Guide created: 12/03/06 (updated 08/16/09)
Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our 2U9BKWmd7TDW!~~_7.JPG "mjwy")
