Archaen Butterstone Specimen #2
Archaen Butterstone Specimen Archaen Butterstone Specimen Archaen Butterstone Specimen (with fossils) Archaen Butterstone Specimen (closeup, with fossils) Archaen Butterstone Specimen (closeup, with fossils) Archaen Butterstone Specimen (closeup, with fossils) Archaen Butterstone Specimen Archaen Butterstone Specimen Archaen Butterstone Specimen
Archaen Butterstone Specimen #2
Greenstone Belt of Southern Africa
2020: Box 9c – SC #48
Insert Text:
Archaen
Butterstone predates dinosaurs by over 2500 million years.
This rock is from the Greenstone Belt of Southern Africa,
which was formed during the Archaen Period and is over 2500 million years old.
The Archaen Period covers 45% of the earth’s history – from the beginnings of
the planets (about 4500 million years ago), up to the beginning of the
Proterozoic Era (2500 million years ago).
During the Archaen Period the surface of the earth
formed, the oceans and the continents were established and life began in the shallow
sea environment. There must have been seabed outcrops or lakes of considerable
size which were turbid and muddy. This residue would over time have precipitated
to the bottom in layers and early algael life would have settled within these
banded layers of muddy residue. Around 2800 million years ago the atmospheric pressure
was higher and heat production around three times present heat production, due
to increased volcanic activity. This led to the serpentinization (green color)
of the sediment that had by now become hard.
Micro fossils in the form of Stromatolites of blue
green algae have been found in the fine laminations and may represent the beginnings
of life on earth and contain a history of our own origins. Micro fossils are
microscopic relics preserved in rock by being incorporated into the sediment in
such a way that they are not immediately broken down but are replaced in fine
detail by the fossilization process. Stromatolites are structures in the
laminated sedimentary rocks built by organisms such as algae or bacteria that
have precipitated carbonates from the surrounding waters. Micro fossils in the
form of fossilized algae are the earliest known life forms, predating the
dinosaurs by 2500 million years, and represent the beginnings of life and
fossils as we know them. Unlike conventional fossil collecting, the search for
micro-organisms proves to be more difficult as Archaen rocks do not give up
their secrets easily. Micro-organism identification is always difficult due to
the lack of fine detail. There is, however, almost certain evidence of early
life from about 2700 million years ago, with evidence of early life in Southern
Africa at about 3500 million years (by Hamilton et al in 1979).
It is quite probable that the appearances of the rocks
found today do not resemble the early Archaen shallow water crater environments,
which have been lost over time. One can only speculate that in late Archaen
time, the earth’s shallow water environment may have been widely populated by
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Perhaps the entire waterways were populated
by a diverse population of Procaryotes.
Whatever the controversy, it is a humbling experience
to hold a piece of ancient history of such an incredible age in your hands,
contemplate its formations and wonder at its origins.
~ Text by C & J Commodities, Florence, SC 29501
5.36
ounces
151
grams
755
carats
Gem Miner’s Jubilee
Lebanon Valley Expo Center
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
August 2019
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Archaen Butterstone Specimen |
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Archaen Butterstone Specimen |
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