The formation is not fully understood but is most likely to be a volcanic rock that has been “overprinted” by a weak metamorphism. The green groundmass is composed mainly of quartz, pyroxene (aegirine) with orbs of alkali feldspar embedded with streaky aggregates comprising tiny needles of amphibole (riebeckite to pargasite). Nevertheless paraphrasing from their findings thin-section and X-Ray diffraction analyses have shown the kabamba material is not a type of jasper at all, it is instead volcanic. Unfortunately they're only available to members and only in German. The EPI (Institut für Edelstein Prufüng) or Institute for Gemstone Testing in Germany published a detailed report in one of its bulletins. It has been studied by experts and isn’t stromatolitic or even sedimentary, at least not in the samples that have been analysed. It's a relatively newly-discovered exposure of an already known material. Kambaba Jasper is an invented name for what was hailed in the fringes of the lapidary world as a new material but isn’t.
There's a lot of hokum and claptrap kicking around concerning this material which has created considerable confusion. "I’ve been sitting on my hands trying to stay out of this debate. Having read the entire thread carefully, I found this comment particularly interesting The replies which covered several pages featured arguments both for and against.
It had been started by someone who asked whether kambaba jasper was a stromatolite. I eventually stumbled across a relatively old thread in an online forum. Nor did it give any details regarding where in Madagascar it was found. Whilst doing research on kambaba jasper not one article I read gave detailed or correct information about its geological makeup. Before republishing an article that has been copied, few people check for accuracy. The main reason for this is because so many articles are repeatedly plagiarised. Having researched and written about rocks and minerals for more than twenty years, I'm aware not everything you read online is accurate. It's for this reason that some claim kambaba jasper is more than three billion years old. A stromatolite is a rock-like structure that forms in shallow waters from the build up of a group of bacteria called cyanobacteria.Īlso known as blue-green algae, cyanobacteria have a fossil record which dates back almost three and a half billion years.
Outside of India it's also sometimes known as green stromatolite jasper. Upon returning home I discovered that was a trade name used by gem cutters in Jaipur. I was told this distinctive stone was called star galaxy jasper. I was first shown kambaba jasper whilst at one of my suppliers in India in 2002. Like all varieties of jasper it's not made up of one single mineral but of several. Much of the geological information online about this relatively rare material is vague and inaccurate.Īlthough often referred to as a mineral, kambaba jasper is actually a rock. Kambaba jasper from Madagascar is also known as crocodile jasper and kabamba stone. Kambaba Jasper Properties Meaning Facts and Photos
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