We were first introduced to this stone from a South African Mineral Dealer who told us this stone was 'Green Stromatolite Jasper, a fossilized algae that has been around a long time.' he further explained that it was given the name 'Kambaba Jasper' by the company who was actually mining this stone. Let us be very clear here.there are ongoing debates about this stone by people more learned than we are. Not long ago we were contacted by a geologist who wanted to know where we got the 'scientific proof' that this stone was a stromatolite. It is a Stromatolite Jasper, which means that it is composed of fossilized algae. Kambaba Jasper (sometimes called Kabamba Jasper) from Madagascar. Jaspers can include up to 20% foreign materials, which account for its wide variety of colors and patterns. Jasper is a micro crystalline variety of Quartz, a silicon dioxide mineral with a hardness of 6.5 to 7. Kambaba Jasper is a rare fossilized jasper from Madagascar. Although many Stromatolites are fossils, there are a number of locations on the modern-day Earth where Stromatolites are still forming.

Today they are nearly extinct, living a precarious existence in only a few localities worldwide.įossil Stromatolites constitute our earliest and most pervasive record of life on Earth. They were the dominant life form on Earth for over 2 billion years. These structures may be from fractions of an inch to several feet in diameter.Ĭyanobacteria were likely responsible for the creation of earth's oxygen atmosphere. Once the dominant life form on the planet, Stromatolites are now found in only a few places, such as Madagascar.Ĭyanobacteria form these mound-like structures by growing through sediment, binding the particles together resulting in successive layers which, over very long time periods, may harden to form rocks. Kambaba Jasper, Stromatolites, colonial structures created by Cyanobacteria (commonly called blue-green algae) are among the oldest fossils on earth, being found in rocks over 3 billion years old.

Kambaba jasper stone