What's the scoop on "Kambaba jasper"?

[rollingstone]

I bought a slab of this stuff (pic below), but I'm not really sure what it is. I believe it is from Madagascar, and based on the patterns I assumed it was related to ocean jasper. But now I'm not so sure....

I've seen this stuff on the Internet called everything from Kambaba Ocean Jasper to fossil algae to fossil stromatolite. It looks very different to me than other fossil stromatolites (algae) such as Mary Ellen jasper but I'm pretty much a newbie on this, and an internet search turned up little more than a site where someone was searching for the same info, and stated that after several hours of searching they turned up essentially nothing.

I know others have posted pics of this material in recent months, anyone know the story behind this material?

[deb193]

I have some. I don't know about it being algae, but I my opinion it is the Mar Ellen that looks different from other algaes.

There are some gross similarities ot WY fossil algae (e.g., color, circles) that I could go along with that.

It would be interesting to know more about the site it is collected from.

[krazydiamond]

cool looking stuff no matter what you call it!

KD

[stefan]

Oh Mel!!! I remember this coming up a few months back- I don't remember the out come of the disscussion- Also be warry of terms Like Ocena Jasper- used to describe stuff OTHER than actual ocean Jasper- OJ is so hot right now- the term used in a discription is enoogh to drive prices through the roof! (everything is Ocean Jasper this- ocean jasper that- Hell I even saw an Ebay auction claiming that some poppy jaspers were Ocean Jasper like!!!)

[RedwoodRocks]

I have some of the Kabamby, but I don't know the exact location, I think the location is Madagascar. Nor, do I know if its a silicified rhyolite, pet algae, or pet stromatolite. Actually, I don't know much about the stuff except I thought it was pretty cool looking.

[stoner]

Here you go Don, this is an excerpt from ebay seller's rockman69 last auction. Still not a whole lot of info, but this is what he has to say about it.

"BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!! This is Kabamba Jasper from Madagascar. I had some of this a year ago and sold out pretty fast. I finally managed to source some more recently. And, there’s GOOD news and BETTER news. The GOOD news is that this rough is even better than my last batch. These are super solid chunks and have no husk or waste on them. Now the BETTER news – the price DROPPED! I am starting this rough at about two thirds of what I sold my last batch for. I bought so much of this rough (almost a ton) that I got a great rate at the mine and I am turning that savings on to you. On to the rock…This is a very hard Orbicular jasper with an unusual olive green base color and multi-banded black eyes (orbs). It is very hard and takes a great polish. No worm holes to worry about in this stuff. I think it is a stromatolite fossil jasper similar to Mary Ellen jasper from Minnesota, but I don’t think anyone has done any studies yet. Sure looks like a stromatolite to me."

[stefan]

Here is what I've found
www.tucsonshowplace.net/madagascar_minerals.htm
deltarockgallery.com/kabamba_jasper_slab.html
hehehe From our own Kim

[rhodescabbin]

I first learned of this material several years ago while vising Richardsons Ranch. We were talking about Mary Ellen Jasper and how it would be nice to have some high grade chunks when John's wife showed my a chunk of Green, she called Kambaba and said it was Madagascar's version of Mary Ellen. In studying the exterior it sure looked like Stromotalites. I bought it on the spot as they only had one chunk left. I asked her to please write down the name, (I wasn't sure I was hearing it right) sure enough (BaBa) is at the end of it lol...I too have seen it, and myself even called it Kabamba as rockman is calling it that and I had seen no one else, till now, calling it Kambaba, except Richardson's Ranch...
Whatever the case is, I do know I really enjoyed cutting and working this stuff, its shades of Green are breath-taking.

[rollingstone]

Thanks for the comments and links everyone. I'm still uncertain what to make of this stuff. Looks very cool though, I'd like to see more of it.

[Sabre52]

Don: *L* Man, I've read so many theories on the origin of these materials. I know Kabamby and Kabamba Jasper are different materials. The first looks much like the Ocean Jasper only mostly golds greens and pinks and more jasper than agate whereas Ocean Jasper is more translucent. Got to admit the Kabamba does look somewhat like stromatolite except when you slice algae perpendicular to the orbs, you get columns like in Mary Ellen Jasper . Kabamba is rounded from all directions. Some experts say all these poppy jaspers are some kind of fossilized bubbles of primordial ooze but then when I hunt poppy jasper I find orbicular rhyolite mixed right in and even transitional specimens and I thought it was an igneous rock. Neat rock anyway. I still want to hear Zotica's ideas as I know he collects some poppy jasper too and he's a real geologist......mel

[rollingstone]

Mel, I'm really not sure what to make of this Kambaba/Kabamba slab. As you state, it just doesn't look like a coiled stromatolite tube, but on the other hand, it doesn't look much like orbicular jasper either. Weird.

Zotica's comments would definitely be welcomed. But I'm wondering if this is the kind of issue that is perhaps not even addressed in professional geology? I quipped a few weeks ago that this whole poppy jasper thing would be much better understood if oil was found associated with poppy jaspers. That wasn't entirely meant in jest. Though it's been awhile since I was at school, I did take some university geology courses as options (I'm NOT a geology major), and none of them ever discussed anything remotely like how poppy jaspers form. Seemed that if something didn't have large-scale economic potential (like a coal mine, or a diamond mine, or an oil reservoir), then it wasn't really worth discussing. So call me a skeptic, but I have my doubts about how much research has looked at something like poppy jaspers, which have mainly rockhound interest, but no significant mining potential.

As for the Kabamby/Ocean Jasper thing, I believe these two materials are very closely related. I'll attach a pic at the end of this message of a slab that appears to have both materials intertwined. At any rate, these are much different than the Kambaba slab I posted at the start of this thread.

[stefan]

So true on the Economic intrests!!! My sis is a goeoligsts- It is all just Jasper or Agate- all lumped up into Mircrocrystaline Quartz- She is useless for Locational or variety ID's I have read so many theorys on Ocen Jasper Formation- that it makes me sick!!!! I'm a strong beliver in the Agatized Coral Reef concept- and that would seem to fit with the Kambaba Jasper formation too! There are many corals, invertabrates, sponges ect. today that have similiar structural designs as the orbs, tubes, flowersect. that we find in these Jaspers and Agates we so Love!!!! Just my 2 cents!

[stonemania]

Polished Kambaba Jasper

I've been reading about kambaba jasper to write about it on my website since I first came across it in Jaipur, India in 2002. I was told at that time it was called star galaxy jasper but quickly discovered that was a trade name used in India primarily for cabochons. I was always led to believe that it was a sedimentary rock that contained stromatolites or blue-green algae however I've recently discovered from a very well written post in the Fossil Forum that it's not a true jasper, nor does it feature stromatolites and it's not even a sedimentary rock. Kambaba Stone as it should be known is volcanic so it's an igneous rock, it's green colouration is quartz which features orbs of feldspar embedded with aggregates that are made up of tiny needles of amphibole. 

The article in question is not mine so I can't copy and paste it here but if you'd like like to read it, here's the link: www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/45222-stromatolite/&page=2#comment-493526

Read the entry by Painshill.

[1dave]

Mar 16, 2017 9:14:20 GMT -5 stonemania said:

Polished Kambaba Jasper

I've been reading about kambaba jasper to write about it on my website since I first came across it in Jaipur, India in 2002. I was told at that time it was called star galaxy jasper but quickly discovered that was a trade name used in India primarily for cabochons. I was always led to believe that it was a sedimentary rock that contained stromatolites or blue-green algae however I've recently discovered from a very well written post in the Fossil Forum that it's not a true jasper, nor does it feature stromatolites and it's not even a sedimentary rock. Kambaba Stone as it should be known is volcanic so it's an igneous rock, it's green colouration is quartz which features orbs of feldspar embedded with aggregates that are made up of tiny needles of amphibole. 

The article in question is not mine so I can't copy and paste it here but if you'd like like to read it, here's the link: www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/45222-stromatolite/&page=2#comment-493526

Read the entry by Painshill.

painshill

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Posted April 7, 2014 (edited)


On 4/7/2014 at 8:14 AM, JeanB said:

.... my thoughts are that if this Jasper is really stromatolite (oncolite or Collenia) it is surprising that it has not been studied by experts.

Jean

I’ve been sitting on my hands trying to stay out of this debate. There's a lot of hokum and claptrap kicking around concerning this material which has created considerable confusion. “Kabamba Jasper” is an invented name for what was hailed in the fringes of the lapidary world (those I generally refer to as the “Crystal Folk”) as a new material. It isn’t. It’s a relatively newly-discovered exposure of an already-known material.

It has been studied by experts, and it isn’t stromatolitic (or even sedimentary) – at least not in the samples that have been analysed. The EPI (Institut für Edelstein Prufüng) or Institute for Gemstone Testing in Germany published a detailed report in one of its bulletins. Unfortunately the bulletins are only available to members (and only published in German). Nevertheless, paraphrasing a bit from their findings….

Thin-section and X-Ray diffraction analyses have shown that the Kabamba material it is not a type of jasper at all. It’s volcanic. The green groundmass is composed mainly of quartz, pyroxene (aegirine) with orbicles of alkali feldspar embedded with streaky aggregates comprising tiny needles of amphibole (riebeckite to pargasite). The formation is not fully understood, but it’s most likely a volcanic rock that has been “overprinted” by a weak metamorphism.

In mineral composition it’s very similar to a rock originating in Mexico that’s generally referred to in the lapidary world as “Eldarite”, although the colouration is the reverse of the Madagascan material in that Eldarite has a dark groundmass and pale orbical patterns (whereas Kabamba has a pale groundmass and dark orbicles). Eldarite is also known in America as “Nebula Stone” since, when polished, the patterns resemble nebulae in outer space.

The two rocks are nevertheless sufficiently similar from a mineralogical point of view that the EPI recommends the names “Eldarite” and “Kabamba” (with its several spelling variations) should be regarded as synonyms. They also advise that the term “Kabamba Jasper” should be replaced by the term “Kabamba Stone”.
Edited April 7, 2014 by painshill

[Deleted]

Interesting.

Thanks Dave.