Stromatolite ID help

[Abyss]

Hello all, & Thank you in advance.

I was wondering if you could help me ID this Stromatolite species or location it could be from, it was a random buy & fair price, though it was only labeled as a Australian Stromatolite.

I've looked at a Australian dealer that sells a wide range of AU stromatolites. I'm not coming up with a clear match that says this is it, I know stromatolites can vary some to a lot in a species & locality. Australian or some other location around the world ?

 

 

[jpc]

I don't see anything here that says stromatolite.  This looks more like a breccia.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yes, it looks to me like a polished cross-section through a sedimentary series with some of the layers being breccias and breccio-conglomerates.

[ClearLake]

9 minutes ago, jpc said:

This looks more like a breccia.

Agree, and a neat looking one at that!

[abyssunder]

Is there any close match between your specimen and the following one?

 

[Yoda]

15 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

Is there any close match between your specimen and the following one?

 

This reminds me of Peanut Wood 

[abyssunder]

5 minutes ago, Yoda said:

This reminds me of Peanut Wood 

Correct!

Teredolites

[Plantguy]

Hey Guys,  Neat specimen. I agree with the brecciation you all have already mentioned....with all of those sharp edged/angular clasts. Its kind of interesting to also see that lighter colored eliptical pebble shaped (smooth edged) clast right in amongst the mostly angular material.

 

I also agree/it sure doesnt have the classic very banding/fine lamina in cross-section for alot of the stromatolites. I'm wondering if there are some other areas showing bioturbation or even some stromatolitic activity though--I tried zooming in and there appears to be something..very thin irregular tubes/burrows?/and horizontal layers...maybe not but I am curious of what's going on these areas with the arrows. If a sharp closeup is available or you can describe them it might be interesting or prove me completely wrong. 

I believe I have seen this sample somewhere before. I was intrigued by the brecciation in some polished rock samples online awhile back but I cant place them. I was looking into supplementing/putting together a sample rock collection. I had also been looking at stromatolites on probably the same website you referred to for years before I bought a couple samples elsewhere. I wont name it either but they have alot of interesting specimens. I wish that site included all of their sold material going back over the past decade as there were alot of interesting pieces...As you said I see a couple of current items and old sales but nothing that looks like your specimen. 

 

Sorry I wasnt really of much help/no answers for you, but I think that is a very neat addition to your collection nonetheless. If I run across something more I'll add down the road....

 

Regards, Chris   

[Abyss]

5 hours ago, Plantguy said:

Hey Guys,  Neat specimen. I agree with the brecciation you all have already mentioned....with all of those sharp edged/angular clasts. Its kind of interesting to also see that lighter colored eliptical pebble shaped (smooth edged) clast right in amongst the mostly angular material.

 

I also agree/it sure doesnt have the classic very banding/fine lamina in cross-section for alot of the stromatolites. I'm wondering if there are some other areas showing bioturbation or even some stromatolitic activity though--I tried zooming in and there appears to be something..very thin irregular tubes/burrows?/and horizontal layers...maybe not but I am curious of what's going on these areas with the arrows. If a sharp closeup is available or you can describe them it might be interesting or prove me completely wrong. 

I believe I have seen this sample somewhere before. I was intrigued by the brecciation in some polished rock samples online awhile back but I cant place them. I was looking into supplementing/putting together a sample rock collection. I had also been looking at stromatolites on probably the same website you referred to for years before I bought a couple samples elsewhere. I wont name it either but they have alot of interesting specimens. I wish that site included all of their sold material going back over the past decade as there were alot of interesting pieces...As you said I see a couple of current items and old sales but nothing that looks like your specimen. 

 

Sorry I wasnt really of much help/no answers for you, but I think that is a very neat addition to your collection nonetheless. If I run across something more I'll add down the road....

 

Regards, Chris   

 

 

I agree this is not your typical clear cut stromatolite & does look like some brecciated jasper or ?

Stromatolites did live with a lot of activity to bust them up, I've seen other breccia stromatolites. If this is not a stromatolite so be it, I'll just label jasper or ?

These are the best close ups I can get, hope they turn out ok once posted here.

 

[Abyss]

[Plantguy]

Abyss, thanks for the additional pictures. I unfortunately cant tell from the images what's going on in between the clasts so I'll have to leave it as a Breccia.

 

I wouldnt be surprised that it is indeed from Australia and from a stromatolite facies but I cant confirm that provenance. I know they have supposed hydrothermal activity during the deposition in some of those facies there so it very well could be a chert breccia as many of the similar looking angular clast specimens on the web show. Jasper was a term I only heard at rockhound/lapidary meetings for microcrystalline siliceous rocks so I'm not much help there. I think there is a thread on this forum that one of the others got into jasper and chert and micro/macro siliceous differences/discussions. Anyways, sedimentary rocks/nor stromatolites are not my strength so I'll defer to the biogenesis and/or petrology folks and others in the forum for further rock/mineral naming. 

 

One last thing, If noone else on this forum offers any more insight on your specimen and you are still curious, there is one other avenue you might try---find a recent Australian Stromatolite article on the web and send one of the article's authors a photo/email and ask for their opinion/advice and see if they'll respond. Most folks surprisingly will and are a wealth of info in their area of specialty. 

 

Regards, Chris