Stromatolites in Archaen Butterstone.JPG

Stromatolites in Archaen Butterstone

Greenstone belt of Southern Africa
Archean Period (Over 2500 Million Years Ago
Butterstone (sometimes called Butter Jade or African Jade) is an ancient stone found in the greenstone belt of Southern Africa. It dates to over 2500 million years ago. It was formed during the Archean Period when the continents were just forming.

Many pieces contain evidence of the beginnings of life on Earth in the form of Micro Fossils of Blue Green Algae Stromatolites. Stromatolites, or stromatoliths (from Greek strōma "layer, stratum" (GEN strōmatos), and lithos "rock") are layered mounds, columns, and sheet-like sedimentary rocks that were originally formed by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a single-celled photosynthesizing microbe. Fossilized stromatolites, some of which may date from 3.7 billion years ago, provide records of ancient life on Earth. Lichen stromatolites are a proposed mechanism of formation of some kinds of layered rock structure that are formed above water, where rock meets air, by repeated colonization of the rock by endolithic lichens.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Chlorophycophyta (green algae)
Genus: Chlorellopsis