Kambaba Jasper

Kambaba Jasper, or Crocodile Jasper, is found in Madagascar, where ancient algal mounds called stromatolites were fossilized.  These algal mounds were replaced with silica and other minerals giving it the green color.  The circle patterns seen in Kambaba Jasper are cross-sections of the algal mounds.

Stromatolites are one of the oldest life forms on Earth, dating over 3 billion years ago.  These cyanobacteria produced oxygen, which helped to create the atmosphere we have today and contributed to allowing animals to appear.  For billions of years, these bacteria lived in the oceans, producing oxygen in large quantities.  It wasn’t until 575 million years ago (over 1 billion years later) that multi-cellular animals appeared on Earth.  Today, stromatolites are much more restricted in their distribution.

The dark and light concencentric circles of the kambaba jasper make mesmerizing pieces that can be fun to study and meditative.  The age of these stromatolites is a symbol of stability and kambaba jasper is considered a stone to aid in anxiety.