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Hi Group, I have no idea what is this. Is it possibly a stromatolite? maybe is it a moss or something? My father a collector had it, he was in commercial navy 50's-80's so this could originate from anywhere, but most of his fossils were from Morocco and Brasil. size: (approx.) : 10.7 cm X 8.2 cm X 3.7 cm weight: 299 grams No any reaction on UV lamp, nothing glows As always any help very much appreciated !

I'm hoping for a proper identification of the pictured rock. It is 5.5" long, 3" at its widest, and 2" in height. I found it in the area of a former gravel pit just to the north of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I've researched it and it appears to be a Stromatolite. Please assist?

I haven’t posted a stromatolite in a while. I’ve been preoccupied with biominerals and petrified wood. To see an old thread on stromatolites in my collection, check out the below link. The below stromatolite slab is one of my favorites in my collection because of its composition and formation story. This slab is a breccia created during a Mississippian time-period Impact (large meteor or asteroid) in Missouri that blended Cambrian aged laminar stromatolites with Precambrian aged iron. The close-up pictures below show the EDIT: agatized interdigital spaces of a stromatolite embedded in the iron. The last 5 pictures are at the highest magnification and show the stromatolite patterns and breccia patterns. Mississippian Impact Breccia Slab, Agatized Cambrian Laminar Stromatolite blended with Precambrian Iron, Crooked Creek Structure, Crawford Co., Missouri (264 grams 6.125x3.5x.375 inches): This slab was sold as fossilized coral. I could tell from the pictures that it was actually a stromatolite which I’ve confirmed with two stromatolite experts. The interesting thing is that it is from the Miocene of Indonesia. Both the time period and location make the specimen rare. Stromatolite Slab, Miocene, Indonesia (109 grams 3x2.75x.125 to .5 inches): Marco Sr.

I have several stromatolites that I've found in Knox county TN. They've only been found one 1 other location in Tennessee, by a boat ramp in Claiborne county. These aren't near a body of water, they're setting on top of very damp, moss covered ground. Claiborne county is about 45 miles north.

The world's oldest fossils or oily gunk? Research suggests these 3.5 billion-year-old rocks don't contain signs of life Birger Rasmussen and Janet Muhling, PhysOrg, The Conversation. February 2, 2023 The world’s oldest fossils or oily gunk? New research suggests these 3.5 billion-year-old rocks don’t contain signs of life Birger Rasmussen and Janet Muhling, The Conversation A 3.5-billion year old Pilbara find is not the oldest fossil: so what is it? David Wacey and Martin Saunders, The conversation, April 2015 The open access paper is Birger Rasmussen et al, 2023, Organic carbon generation in 3.5-billion-year-old basalt-hosted seafloor hydrothermal vent systems, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add7925 PDF file for above paper Yours, Paul H.

3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science, November 10, 2022 Hickman-Lewis, K., Cavalazzi, B., Giannoukos, K., D’ Amico, L., Vrbaski, S., Saccomano, G., Dreossi, D., Tromba, G., Foucher, F., Brownscombe, W. and Smith, C.L., 2022. Advanced two-and three-dimensional insights into Earth’s oldest stromatolites (ca. 3.5 Ga): Prospects for the search for life on Mars. Geology. Yours, Paul H.

Found near Ottawa Ontario

Hi, I'm in Morocco and I read a couple of posts about the ambivalence of stromatolites. I bought one of the ones which appears not to be and resembles a desert rose, but I also went out back with a seller and spotted what I believe to be a genuine one. Any thoughts?

...also oncolites, thrombolites, microbialites, related things can be included. We can also include BIFs (Banded Iron Formations) and suchlike, being indirectly created by early life, but there will be a preference for biogenic stuff. I don't think this topic has been started already (I would have thought it has), so it falls to me. If one already exists, maybe this can be merged with it and I'll edit accordingly. Some of us have been showing each other our stromatolite finds/acquisitions in other topics and it seemed like a good idea to make a central depot. Links to preexisting posts are welcome, if you don't want to make duplicate posts here. I'll start it off with some of mine. I did a photographing blitz and then finally got done editing them. Some of the slices have not yet been polished, so I had to photo them wet, though some wouldn't hold the water so I gave up and photo'd them dry. First, my Australian examples... Apparently this one is (mid?) Cambrian, from the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory, west of Camooweal, Queensland. I like that it has some of the natural eroded surface as well as the sliced (and thankfully polished) surface: I wish this piece were bigger. It must have at one time passed through the hands of that dealer in England who chops everything up into small pieces to maximize profit, but I don't know. Earaheedia kuleliensis, Paleoproterozoic/Statherian (~1.75 b.y.), Kalele (Kulele?) Limestone, Wiluna, Nabberu Basin, Western Australia: I doubt this one is technically a stromatolite or microbialite - just layers (varves?) of BIF sediment, but it did exist at a time when there was single-celled life on Earth, pumping oxygen into the seawater, turning iron suspended therein into iron oxide which precipitated out to form the Banded Iron formations. And anyway it's too cool to not include. The rockhounds refer to this stuff as 'Snakeskin jasper'. 2.45 b.y. (Paleoproterozoic/Siderian), Weeli Wolli Fm (Hamersley Group), Turee Creek Station, SW of Newman, WA. (Pilbara Region) A couple more BIF pieces from Australia, just because it's so interesting and indirectly biogenic... Rockhounds refer to this stuff as Tiger Iron (ie. Tiger-eye in Banded Iron). I understand there are 2 different locations: the Ord Ranges/Port Hedland location (Cleaverville/Nimingarra Iron Fm, Mesoarchean 3.02-3.1by) and the Marra Mamba/Brockman location (Marra Mamba Fm, Neoarchean 2.6by), both in the Pilbara Region of Western Aus, but I'm not sure how to tell which one this might be from. I lean toward the former as the latter is apparently less common. If anyone has more expertise on this I would appreciate a tip. The Tigereye is a pseudomorph (replacement in silica) of selenite growths in the sediment after deposition, if I'm not mistaken? I need to check that to be more confident. ( wet ^ --- dry v )

Lately, I have been enjoying @Wrangellian's Show us your stromatolites. It made me think about some of my finds. I will post just 2 of them for the purpose of figuring out if they are stromatolites or stromatophoroid sponges. These were collected over the last month. The first came from the upper Ordovician of NE Iowa.I can NOT tell the difference!!!! It can be frustrating. The second ones, which I am pretty sure are stromatoporoids, came from the Devonian, Solon member or just above it, of central Iowa.

Hi everyone, I have been collecting fossils for some time, but this is my first post in the forum. I've recently acquired a stromatolite slab from the Strelley Pool formation. I have access to a laboratory compound microscope, and I was wondering if there is anything interesting that can be seen under magnification. I understand that I probably won't be able to see microfossils of any sort in this magnification, but I'm just wondering whether there are any interesting/discernible structures. I have an image that I took via this microscope attached below, and I can see dark clusters and white flakes amidst layered brown bands. Are these ordinary rock inclusions or does anything indicate past biological activity?

In a beach near Galaxidi, in Greece, i found some grey fossils on rocks with layers, just like the stromatolites. I believe that these fossils are members of Francevillian biota, witch includes the earliest multicellular organisms that was found in Gabon. These are the reasons that make me think that these fossils are from the Francevillian biota; 1.The fossils have got the same thickness with these that were found in Gabon; 6 mm. 2. In the past, one part of Eurasia (probably Greece) was next to Gabon in the Paleoproterozoic era, when the Francevillian biota appeared. 3. Its rock has got the same color with these from Gabon. Probably are made from the same minerals. 4. The fossils have got the same forms with the members of the Francevillian biota.

I found the silicified and brecciated laminar structures in Miocene lake deposits north of Phoenix, Arizona. Could they be disturbed algal mats? I envision a drying algal mat in a lake that is disturbed by an event such as a flood, windstorm, landslide or earthquake. Compare to Kinneyia trace fossil: https://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/2015/10/23/woosters-fossil-maybe-of-the-week-kinneyia-ripples/ Confirmed stromatolites occur nearby in the lake sediments. Photo 1: typical wrinkled/ cracked marks in surface of laminar structures. Photo 2: typical piece of folded and brecciated laminar structures. Photo 3: detail of photo 2. Photo 4: edge of rock in photo 2. 4.5 cm field of view. Photo 5: Another piece. Photo 6: detail of photo 5. Photo 7: edge of photo 5. 3 cm field of view.

Miocene lakebed deposits north of Phoenix have revealed more than palm and unknown reed like plants. I found stromatolites preserved in black, gray and white chalcedony. Although not as common as in the Precambrian, stromatolites still occur in oceans and in lakes. See article about the ones in Utah’s Great Salt Lake: https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/is-there-coral-in-the-great-salt-lake/ My favorite one is this 10 cm high detail of a much larger stromatolite. #1 This 38 cm one came home with me. #2 Here is a detail of #2. 9 x 13 cm. #3 Here is a 6 cm high relatively flat stromatolite. #4 Detail of side of #4. Scattered pieces of palm occur. 9.5 cm high. #6 This silicified palm has calcite crystals growing in it. 13.5 cm long. #7 Detail of #7. It looks like an art piece.

Not had a chance to get out hunting much for a while but had a trip out to a new site the other day and found some brand new stuff I wanted to share! Just outside of the little coastal town where I stay in Fife, Scotland there's a Lower Carboniferous stromatolite bed known for its beautiful stromalolite formations in a hard cream colored limestone which can be cut and polished for use in jewelry. This stromatolite bed lies on top of Lower Carboniferous lava's and has been correlated with another, 30m above a bed called the Burdiehouse Limestone which I do a lot of my collecting from. This puts its age somewhere in the late Asbian. These stromatolites grew in a freshwater lake that had formed on cooled lava flows. Its a challenging and dangerous site to collect from on an extremely steep and crumbly wooded slope below cliffs, very quickly though I started to find beautiful fragments of the stromatolite bed as well as a completely weathered out example and lots of split-able limestone with the occasional fish scales, freshwater bivalves and microconchids. The real prize of the day though was a beautiful and perfectly intact Petalodont shark tooth just lying on the surface of a massive block of the stromatolite bed, this stuff is so hard and not bedded at all so the luck involved in this being broken out like this is staggering! Not sure of the ID of the tooth but think it may be a Petalorynchus sp. Its 19mm from the tip of the crown to the end of the extremely long root. This was the first thing I picked up, a small stromatolite that had weathered out of the formation almost perfectly intact.

Is this possibly stromatolites? Found just north of Golden Shores, Arizona, in a dry wash in loose material on the bank of the wash. Thank you for any help, very new to collecting fossils.

Hi guys! I am a super newbie. Please be patient with me. I caught the bug when the family moved to Murray County, GA last year. In the backyard I found what I believe to be stromatolites. I live 20 mins from Carters dam (dueling banjo's are most appropriate here) and have learned much online. I found your site just yesterday, while googling for places to look and hunt for cool stuff in the ground. Thanks to you all, I found what I think are trilobites! I am excited to learn more more from you all!

Hello, all. I am grateful for your existence. :-) I've been lurking for a couple months and am convinced this group is a.) nice, and b.) knowledgeable. So here I am, seeking. Gird your loins. I have questions not only about "what the heck is this thing in the rock" to history of geology, what kind of rock is this, why are geologists so uniformly lousy at naming things, down to What Kind of Fool Am I. Basics; I am a widely trained evolutionary ecologist, including some paleontology and geology. Some. 70 years old, not vaguely retired. Independent scholar, most of my present work has to do with crop breeding and trees, but I've done hard research on shrew and deer sensory systems, in vitro fertilization of small mammals, bird behavior, and soricid cardiac cytology + more. The formative event paleontology-wise was spending a summer in a science camp where Dr. Charles Lewis Camp was preparing an almost complete ichthyosaur in one of the back cabins, a big one. If you poked your nose in when he was working, he'd put you to work or throw you out; I worked. A delight to breathe the same air. My problems: (greatly simplified) I've lived in SE Minnesota, SE Fillmore County, for 40+ years. My land includes a ravine/ dry run/ coulee, along 1/4 mile of border. I'm in the "Driftless Region", which I long ago discovered did not mean I couldn't find basalt, granite, quartz boulders, gabbro, whatever down in the dry stream bed. Along with endless "limestone" rocks and a modest amount of highly silicified quartzite, of unknown origin. A couple of years ago, my "dry run" - started to run water. A dream of mine for years, since I took 90 tilled acres out of corn/beans/tractors and turned it into tree crops. Theoretically, the aquifer should recharge better, and rise; and seems now to have happened. So spending a little more time peering into the stream bed, through crystal clear and cold water, I started to notice some stones I really didn't recognize at all. I discovered, after some excitement, oolitic dolomite; oolitic chert, oolitic dolomitic marble, and fossils everywhere. The marble suddenly appeared after a 6" downpour that resulted in a flood which cut my streambed as much as 3 feet deeper. There was this 35 lb block of - marble, which I'd never seen before. So far, after considerable time spent searching, I have been able to find no references, at all, to anyone ever finding something that might be considered marble, associated with the Oneota. I assure you that it IS "marble"; being blinding white, with a rhombohedral fracture resulting in very straight, flat lines. Plus, this rock does indeed progress into chert, frequently, resulting in stones that produce the standard conchoidal fracture type for chert. I can show you fossiliferous specimens where all stages of the process are visible in one hand- unweathered buff dolomite, opaque screaming white marble, white increasingly translucent chert, increasingly dark chert down to black flint, to tripolitic chert, the bane of my existence, down to - sand and dust. So this would be a metasomatic marble; similar I'm guessing to "Tennessee marble". The fossils are abundant in the marble, less so in the chert, NOT deformed by stress, and often reappear in the tripolitic chert- until I touch them with a brush. Gone. I think the microscopic structure of my cryptozoons is often highly preserved in the bits on the way to marble, and covered in drusy quartz. I think some appropriate professionals need to look at this stuff. The word "unique" keeps hitting me. And I'm terrified of just washing off some never-before-seen fossil. I think sometimes the forms are preserved after they are true dirt- just before I lift the stone from its undisturbed bed. I'm trying to do some digging (I have permission) to expose multiple strata. I'm not entirely sure if I'm looking at the top of the Oneota; or the bottom of the New Richmond; both, or what. It's clear that the geological "unconformity" (don't like that word, like "drusy" less) was really traumatic- but- what the heck am I looking at? Oh, and there are probably stromatolites all over the place, up to 2 meters long so far- Know any trustworthy geologists? I/we really do want hard academic scientists looking- but the site, at the owners demand, is a fast secret. :-) Oh, yeah, forgot. After thinking, digging, cleaning for 2 years; I'm launching a business selling these stones for suiseki, gong shi, pen jing, and meditation focus... I'm intending to NOT sell any with super fossils to those markets; but- it's going to be a business. I've got lots of rocks. Expect to be at the Minnesota Bonsai Society Fall Auction, in St. Paul, Oct. 20. I DO have loads of photos; but I'm fussy. I'm used to technical publication quality, and I'm not happy with my current camera; or half baked snapshots. Also struggling with catching nice 3D stereo images in flat jpgs. What is the preferred method here for posting photos?

Geologists Question 'Evidence Of Ancient Life' In 3.7 Billion-Year-Old Rocks, NPR, All Things Considered https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/658103489/geologists-question-evidence-of-ancient-life-in-3-7-billion-year-old-rocks "World's Oldest Fossils" Might Actually Be Simple Rocks, And We're Here For The Drama, Carly Cassella, Science Alert https://www.sciencealert.com/doubt-raised-over-current-record-holder-oldest-fossil-sign-of-life The paper is: Abigail C. Allwood, Minik T. Rosing, David T. Flannery, Joel A. Hurowitz and Christopher M. Heirwegh, 2018, Reassessing evidence of life in 3,700-million-year-old rocks of Greenland. Nature, Letter | Published: 17 October 2018 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0610-4 A related paper is; Retallack, G.J. and Noffke, N., 2018. Are there ancient soils in the 3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, Greenland?. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Volume 514, Pages 18-30. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018218305984 Yours, Paul H.

I have a small slice of a piece of banded iron from a larger chunk I found in the minnesota river bottoms near minneapolis. The piece is probably a piece of glacial till form the ranges a few hundred miles north but i have not seen any thing so far that is similar to what i have. There is one large band of hematite and magnetite near the center that clearly shows no folds and a smaller less visible band under the lighter orange object also shows no folding. One side of the slice shows a channel or void while the other shows none. If you were to rotate this you would have a cup shape. This structure looks nothing like any stromatolites i have seen and besides the larger band the material seems mostly non compacted. The center of the channel is fairly clear crypto-crystalline material with some yellowish green staining along the inner boundry and clouding along with some black filamentous material (possibly helical) all roughly oriented in the same direction. I put up some videos on you tube and posted on some more mainstream fossil id and geology fourms but have yet to hear anything at all. Not sure if i can link a you tube here but you can find it by looking up banded iron MN new on youtube where i have it under the microscope. I will post a picture but the ones i have are too large to fit so i will try to resize them if there is any interest. Thanks

Himmler, T., Smrzka, D., Zwicker, J., Kasten, S., Shapiro, R.S., Bohrmann, G. and Peckmann, J., 2018. Stromatolites below the photic zone in the northern Arabian Sea formed by calcifying chemotrophic microbial mats. Geology. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323211798_Stromatolites_below_the_photic_zone_in_the_northern_Arabian_Sea_formed_by_calcifying_chemotrophic_microbial_mats https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/74385017_Tobias_Himmler https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/528309/stromatolites-below-the-photic-zone-in-the Yours, Paul H.

Hi y'all, Here are the finds from 3 separate half day trips to Post Oak Creek during the first weekend of Feb and from last Saturday. One of those days was spent hunting a new to me part of the creek that seemed to have more trash and glass than fossils. That day I decided to make a move to a more productive part of the creek to collect some gravel that I had promised my nieces so they could do some fossil hunting at home. Also I collected some for myself. Last Saturday @Buffalo Bill Cody and I went hunting. It's was warmer and I noticed several bass swimming in the creek. I'll have to bring my fishing pole for the next outing. The week before last I went canoeing on the Llano River for 4 days where I had the pleasure of seeing some interesting fossils that I'll be posting below. Bare with me. I'm posting from an IPhone.

@Raggedy Man and his "phantom" wife, Laura, came up to fossil hunt for her 31st Birthday and what a hunt it was! I was busy the first day they were here with my little Airbnb Whispering Winds checking people in and out but they had a wonderful day hunting and Paul found a Bumastis trilobite - they are trilobite hunters. He will have to post his pictures. :-) On Saturday I had invited new fossil friend, Todd, from the Twin Cities to hunt with us. He had come on a paid hunt earlier (he left with 2 5 gallon pails of fossils that very long fossil hunting day) and we had bonded and this was a good opportunity for him to get some real fossil hunting done. I had heard about the "mythical" Seven Springs down a favorite sometimes dry wash and was on a mission. So off we went to hunt Orodovician fossils and Seven Springs! It was a lovely fall day in Minnesota in the 60s with leaves slowly turning brilliant colors and falling to cover the floor of the wash. The first part of the wash was not particularly fossiliferous but we had perhaps a mile or two to go to Seven Springs, so I was warning Todd not to pick up too many fossils. And yes that big plate was beautiful, but too heavy to carry out - that is what hammers are for... :-) The day was beautiful and each corner drew us around another. Paul and Laura had gone up the wash. And there were plates that just weren't going to come back with us. But the siren's call of more fossils to be found just kept us going... But this worn Fisherite showing the side structure was one I just had to have! We rounded one bend to see wild morning glories blooming against the gleaming white rocks of the Galena Formation. We were back in pretty far and hit a very fossilierous wall. I was on a mission and just had to keep going to find Seven Springs - was it real or not? Todd was happy to be left there. :-) The next corner of the wash called to me, and the next, and the next... I ran across the tracks of a large white tail and knew I must be near water. Finally! The first of Seven Springs! My mission had paid off! Seven Springs! So serene and beautiful! I had dropped my backpack back by Todd and so fossil hunting my way back was only what I could stuff into my fly fishing vest. When I finally got back, Paul and Laura had hiked down the wash to see what the old folks were up too. :-) Continued...

Slide 1 I recently started reading up on stromatolites after I learnt that we have stromatolite formations and living tufa cyanobacteria colonies in the rocky beaches of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The cyanobacteria found here are unique, their habitat is the semi-freshwater pools where freshwater from springs meet the sea where they line and grow on the submerged surfaces of the pools. The stromatolites have irregular forms and my observation is that quite often they are concave plates opposed to the more well known dome shaped forms. Here is a photo I took at Schoenmakerskop this morning. The cyanobacteria colony is in the centre and the stromatolite formations in the background Picture 1 I was wondering how it is that the reefs are often arranged in straight and parallel lines, some drama must have played off here over millions of years! Here is an example of the convex shaped plates (How old are they?) Picture 2

Well, on this trip we didn't actually hunt for anything (the signs and route were pretty apparent and no collecting was allowed), there were technically no fossils (though stromatolites predate most other life forms and have been inhabiting the planet for some 3.7 billion years), but you can't deny it was a trip so, though only scoring one out of three, I'm posting this in the Fossil Hunting Trips section. It was quite a trip and one I've had on my bucket list for some years now. I've visited (even dived, surveyed and sampled) the living stromatolites in Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas and wanted to pay my respects to the other (more) famous modern-day locality in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Some may not know of the larger (up to 2.5 meter) Bahamian variety of stromatolites. These exist not due to hyper-saline conditions (barring other competing life forms) but due to the crazy currents that run through the channels which shift huge amounts of oolitic sands which frequently bury these stromatolites for extended periods of time. The cyanobacterial mats are not only tolerant of this periodic smothering but actually make use of the sand grains in constructing and cementing their layered structures. Other benthic organisms like corals, macroalgae and other invertebrates can't tolerate being buried from time to time and so the stromatolites capitalize on these special circumstances that allow them to proliferate unchallenged. Here are a few quick web links for those who've not heard of the Bahamian forms: http://www.bahamas.com/vendor/stromatolites-exumas https://appliedecology.cals.ncsu.edu/absci/wp-content/uploads/18_Stromatolites-Brochure.pdf http://www.robertriding.com/pdf/riding_etal1991-bahamas.pdf http://fire.biol.wwu.edu/trent/alles/Stromatolites.pdf We had planned the drive up to Shark Bay from Perth as the final leg of our Australian anniversary trip. With some good insight provided by TFF member Dave (@sandgroper) we plotted a course for several days sightseeing along the western coast of Australia to terminate at its northern extent at Shark Bay with the primary goal of paying homage to the life form that terra-formed this planet nearly 2.3 billion years ago by reducing the percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (pumped out by all those volcanoes early in earth's story) and increasing the level of oxygen from its initial trace amounts--called the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) or the Great Oxidation. At first the oxygen released due to the photosynthetic activities of the cyanobacteria apparently was quickly absorbed by huge amounts of elemental iron in the earth's surface and oceans. I've heard that the earth's oceans would have had a green tinge till all of the dissolved iron precipitated out as rusty iron oxide (the source of many of those iron ore deposits today). Once the iron was done consuming all of the oxygen being produced by the cyanobacteria, the atmospheric percentage was finally allowed to climb to today's levels (actually, even higher in the past). This oxygen was one of the factors in allowing multi-cellular life (and eventually even fossil-hunting Homo sapiens) to evolve. It is for this reason that I felt the pilgrimage was in order--a creation story combined with a sort of cautionary tale of a species that so changed the world that it could no longer survive as the dominant species. Sound vaguely familiar? Anyway, enough exposition--onto some photos from the trip. We had started that morning further down the coast at Kalbarri and had left just after breakfast to make the three hour drive north to Hamelin Pool. While there was not really a great change in latitude during those three hours of listening to podcasts while enjoying the changing scenery, the temperature difference was amazing. When we left Kalbarri it was around 16C (61F) and was probably headed to a high of around 26C (79F). We could feel the outback-like temps when we made a stop at the Billabong Roadhouse for a quick break and refuel. By the time we were in the parking lot at the Hamelin Pool Marine Reserve interpretive boardwalk the thermometer in the car was reading an incredible 40C (104F). We lathered on some SPF100 sunscreen, donned our field hats with the long cape in the back, took a long drink of cool water and ambled (slowly) toward the boardwalk. The boardwalk is well illustrated with nice signs providing some good basic information on this special ecosystem for those tourists unfamiliar with these special microbial communities. As we seemed to be visiting Australia outside of the normal tourist season, we had the entire place to ourselves (as we'd experienced in many other places we visited on this trip). The site has a well constructed boardwalk built over the shore and out to a great vantage point to see the stromatolites in all their glory. Truth be told, they are not really impressive structures (probably mostly less than half a meter and mostly a blackish or brownish in color except for those furthest from shore which are exposed to the air for the least amount of time during low tides and were more sand colored). I can understand that most tourists making this stop might not appreciate the uniqueness of this site and I can picture most families would likely stop for a quick selfie while the teenage kids barely look up from their devices to glance at the odd arrangements of mushroom-like blobs arrayed before them. I can say that for Tammy and me it was an odd surreal experience to stand at this spot that I've seen in so many online photos and realize we were actually there--not unlike the powerful feeling of standing in front of a half-buried moai on Easter Island and staring into its unseeing face. Of course, being spring in this part of Australia the flies were fierce. They took special pleasure in investigating every possible inconvenient (and irritating) spot on your head to crawl around and covered us in swarms seemingly immune to any waiving of arms (and it was just too hot to even attempt that). We happily made use of our best purchase during this vacation--an inexpensive A$6 fly net to wear over our hats. It wouldn't keep them from covering us like barnacles on a whale but it did keep them from our ears, eyes, noses and mouths and that was enough to make them tolerable. We got there (by chance) at just around dead-low tide and were able to easily see the field of stromatolites stretched out before us. At the edge of the stromatolites were a small group of Pied Cormorants (Phalacrocorax various) preening themselves and resting in the hot morning sun. I hadn't expected to see fish swimming in the hypersaline waters but some small silvery species (no idea which) seemed to be tolerating the conditions well and thriving.