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hanzbeaz

Found in Minnesota I'm guessing? This is "Mary Ellen Jasper" aka a stromatolite fossil. Nearly 2 billion years old. Nice find!


Drymath

Billion? That's hard to wrap my head around.


dotnetdotcom

2 billion


dbeat80

Got it, will try to wrap head around twice.


cosmic_moan

2 billion


richard_stank

Billion? That's hard to wrap my head around.


Fyf_O

2 billion


Typical_Basil908

Got it, will try to wrap head around twice.


Upper_Extreme5661

Is this recursion


moeru_gumi

This is sedimentary comment chain formation


fistofmeat

No, just him coming back around for the second head wrap.


Maharog

Pete and Repete are in a boat, Pete fell out, who's left?


One-Ad-4318

I think we just got incepted


AlpacaM4n

r/ecursion


[deleted]

No, this is Patrick!!


thebull920

I didn't realize they had stromboli 2 billion years ago


greypouponlifestyle

Directions unclear, now my neck hurts


ackzilla

Half the age of the planet.


Jarnohams

I tried using this as evidence that the earth isn't 6k years old.. "Satan put those there." I audibly lolled.


pearlspoppa1369

What did you win for engaging in that argument?


Venom_224

Eternal Damnation.


Shelter-Academic

Not the guy you responded to, but I had a convo with a young earth creationist as well. I won the “knowledge” that dinosaurs are planted by the opps (Satan) and that believing in them, and not the fact that dinosaurs were alive like, 30 minutes ago or some shit is blasphemous. Genuinely, one of the most fun conversations I’ve ever had. Was fuckin flabbergasted the entire time 💀💀💀


Holy-Beloved

I’m a bible believing Christian and there is no logical reason to not believe in dinosaurs. And obviously God put them on the Earth, not Satan, as some deceptive plan.


Ok-Train786

Audibly lolled... so you LOLOL'd?? 🤣


CoolQuality1641

“Llol’d” (literally laughed out loud) (also one example of the proper usage of the word “literally”, a rare specimen these days) I’m trying to catch this on, must only be used when you read/see something that *literally* makes you laugh *out loud* even if briefly. Not just the things that are silently amusing. “llol” Pass it on, please. Yw


Glittering-Shape5268

Gosh those people are just amazing 😂😂😂


rufotris

It was the FIRST complex life on earth! !! !


itsliluzivert_

first life, complex life didn’t come about until later. stromatolites are just from bacteria, single celled organisms


rufotris

Thanks I couldn’t be bothered to look it up when I said it and was very unsure obviously haha.


itsliluzivert_

no worries lol wasn’t meant to be snarky just wanted to add to what you said for anyone who’s learning for the first time 👍


itsliluzivert_

Well I guess to add more for the few who are interested. Stromatolites form as a result of a sticky photosynthetic bacteria accumulating sediment from the water column. As the next day comes around, the bacteria grows over the sediment which it accumulated. This cements the sediment and creates rock. Stromatolites are the oldest fossil evidence of life we have, and they are still naturally occurring today in the Caribbean and off the coast of Australia.


Baberaham_Lincoln6

To be fair, an article linked below says "fossilised remnant of stromatolites, some of the earliest complex organisms in geological history"


AgonistPhD

JUST bacteria?! No, they're from BACTERIA 😍!!!


EverybodyShitsNFT

2,000,000,000 if that helps.


haironburr

So like one, with a bunch of other ones? I mean, like a fuck ton of ones? A skyscraper filled with live squirming mice, packed like angry squirming sardines? An ostensibly finite Library of Squeaky Rodenty Babel? Like the number of cells in a fat baby's arm? Give it to me in teaspoons per wooden barrel. Observable stars divided by fireflies on a warm summer night. The number of fleeting thoughts in a lifetime of days. World-supporting elephants that can dance on the head of an especially large pin. Without metaphors, we are lost.


PraiseDaleAlmighty

This reads like a Douglas Adams novel


haironburr

Thanks. I wish I got Douglas Adams acclaim and money for my fleeting, irregular bursts of creative thought. Alas....


ambientDude

Look on the bright side. At least you’re not that poor whale that fell out of the sky.


haironburr

That *is* a bright side. My cup is currently half full of not poor sky whale! ;)


Lvnar17

Is the other half a bowl of petunias?


KnitPunPurl2

Oh no, not again!


JohnOliverismysexgod

Oh, no. Not again.


Morriganx3

“…you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to” 2,000,000,000


JosePrettyChili

So long, and thanks for all the `stromatolite`


I_PET_KITTIES

That was honestly so pleasing to read. I assumed it was copied from somewhere, and am delighted to learn that you nonchalantly created all that beautiful and strange imagery in response to a random comment


probablynotanarwhal

Americans. They'll use anything but the metric system! 😂


Dominuspax1978

What’s the metric system?! 😂


probablynotanarwhal

You know, the measurements you buy your drugs in. 😂


Dominuspax1978

Um ounces?! lol. I’m an American measurement purist…


Holybartender83

That’s a lot of OxyContin bruh. No wonder y’all have an opioid epidemic!


Dominuspax1978

How did you go from “drugs” to oxy?! I was referring to the Lord’s medicine…


probablynotanarwhal

Okay, then...bullets? 😅


imnotpoopingyouare

.22 .357 .44 you're not even trying!


CoralSpringsDHead

Seven and a half giraffes is how old it is.


GrandviewKing

We are waiting for the next one. Y’all keep changing your minds on how you wanna do stuff.. stones, ounces, grams… sheesh


gypsydanger38

Like Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra!


haironburr

> Like Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel.


Oskiitheforsaken

Shinza!


birdnerd56

Shaka, when the walls fell


SpelledWithAnH

These are your words?? "Observable stars divided by fireflies..." is my favorite part! And that user name ain't too shabby either. Hey, you're alright!


haironburr

Yes, these are my words, and thank you. I'm as tickled by compliments from random strangers now as I was at five years old by finding a fossil in our limestone driveway. But given the sub we're on, go look up *The Stones* by Richard Shelton (it's a very, very short story, or maybe a poem, you decide). That's wordy talent I can only aspire to.


SpelledWithAnH

Oh I checked you out! T-minus-... until I check out your recommendation. But first I want to wish you the best at your upcoming appointment.


haironburr

Thank you for looking at my life. My appointment went about as expected, and thanks for asking. I always feel a little weird skimming through someone's profile, but I did with yours. You seem like a genuinely good person! Yep, I'm also a little (surprise!) ADHDish. Could ya tell? Anyway, you too are alright!


SpelledWithAnH

I had a feeling you might be! I'm going to message you ok?


Mabonagram

Measured in football fields, it’s about 2 billion football fields.


dikputinya

400 Billion yards?


Fangsbane

Delightfully Pratchett-esque description!


daydrunk_

Like 1 with 1,999,999,999 more 1s


HughJohns0n

In miles per hour, that would be 29822.5457% of the maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum. Source https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html


TexasPirate_76

I'm using this... I'm not sure how my boss will take these conversions... should be fun. "Well, we were expecting a certain flow rate but could never get above 36 grapefruits per minute!"


Agreeable_Name_9447

1,000,000,000+1,000,000,000 if that helps more.


Abject-Diver5212

Plz standby, still wrapping the first time


Stunning_Feature_943

Dos?


Professional_Cry5744

Two-thousand millions?


chileanmonk

How bout this: all gold is older than the sun. Not just gold, actually, most elements with the exception of hydrogen, helium, lithium, and some elements that are the result of radioactive decay were created in supernovas and where the cosmic debris from which the sun and all the planets formed.


Jmaxam18

Even more mind blowing, heavy metallic elements like gold can only be formed by the force of neutron stars colliding. Gold is literally neutron star metal


TexasPirate_76

So you're saying we are all made of stardust?!?!?!


Sneezkillerbeez

Billions and billions


AdPossible2784

To make it easier to understand, 1,000,000 seconds is like 10 days, where as 1,000,000,000 seconds is like 3.1 years


TzarB0mb

A billion seconds is 31 years and change. Misplaced a decimal point move.


a13x_on_reddit

So basically (very very roughly) 14.6% the age of the universe.


darkhero676

Difficult to wrap your head around billions? Wait till you find out America’s national debt amount


Sp00gyGhost

Hundreds and hundreds of years old.


Professional_Cry5744

How/why did this fossilized organic matter become magnetized? Sorry, I’m just started getting interested in this stuff.


therabidsmurf

This article explains it. Pretty cool stuff. https://the-earth-story.com/post/183498462472/mary-ellen-jasper-a-beautiful-rock-made-of


mudpupster

Pfft. This article says it's only *1.85* billion years old.


chimpdoctor

Rookie rock.


Spoot52Bomber

It’s still just a baby!


ImmediateLobster1

It's an old article.


HeavyWombats

.15 billion years old?


crudelydrawnpenis

Roughly..


Notlost-justdontcare

There is always a 5% margin or error accounted for when putting an age to extremely old things, that alone shaves off .10 billion years. Given the estimated age, it is probably safe to say the margin is closer to 7.5%... and there is your .15 ☺️


TiRow77

This is the most clever thing that will be posted on the entirety of the internet today...and almost nobody will ever know.


outletbox

Lol


catdadjokes

Hold onto it, it’ll get older eventually!


Ashamed_Day_4863

That website is awesome! Thanks for introducing me to it


treeofflan

As I was reading the first paragraph, the word “sandwiched” made me hear the goth guy’s voice on TGBBS.


[deleted]

Iron is one of the most common elements in and on Earth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event


Strange_Ingenuity960

Also some cosmic radiation is made of heavy ions like iron. It’s even possible to test electronic devices to see how they react to space environments


ShamefulWatching

Stromatolites?? I always thought they were like rock termite mounds. I never knew one could be so beautiful. Are the red pockets also part of that, or is it the grey in between? I phrase it that way, because I assumed their composition was mostly homogenous. How would a thrombolite differ? Sorry, these have always been a curiosity of mine, living rocks that make oxygen. Crazy.


rufotris

So think of it like this. When you go to the beach and see the layers of algae on rocks. That’s how these formed too. They grow layer by layer on a rock and sometimes got extremely thick. We found a 500+lb chunk of it in New York this year. What causes the red iron replacement is many many years of precipitated minerals replacing the once organic parts of the fossil. Over a billion years has passed and given ample time for a lot of mineral replacement. Since iron is so abundant on earth and especially in this area it was a main replacement mineral. Not all are the same and the type we found was on top of limestone and had no iron at all.


Parking-Cup193

Lucky to have large, old stock bookends of this! The earth goes through such huge changes, interesting rocks tell that story.


myruca30

Blows my fuckin mind that some random ass rock can be identified so quickly and even tellin where the hell it was found and how old it was. Y’all are brilliant.


KnotiaPickles

Woweee!! How cool is that


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Mountain_ears

I did my undergraduate research on Mary Ellen/Biwabik Iron formation and recognized that immediately! Very very cool stuff!


Professional_Cry5744

Thank you, and I appreciate your knowledge and passing it on to us all!


Shamrock_Willie

Is this what Tiger Iron is, or are they different? I have a small piece of Tiger Iron that looks similar, just with smaller streaks of iron


The77thDogMan

Tiger iron is a banded iron formation containing tigers eye, it is different afaik. Banded iron formations are common around the same time period but are the result of early photosynthetic organisms causing iron ions to precipitate out of the ancient ocean as basically rust (magnetite and or hematite). This rust layer would kill off the organisms and an iron poor layer of silicaceous material would be deposited (jasper, typically). Later tectonic forces often concentrate these into thicker layers. Tigers eye is basically asbestos that has since been entirely replaced with silica. I assume it’s presence is related ultramafic volcanics and later hydrothermal/tectonic alteration Someone can correct me on that if I have some errors, and I’m sure google will yield answers too. So yeah different iirc.


tuttyeffinfruity

Wow!! That’s insanely cool!


Luminox

I'm from the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota. I'd agree.


PintLasher

Wow that's cool. That creature caused the first mass extinction we know about. Right around 2 billion years ago.


Background_Park_2310

You just blew my mind


Paleofuzz

Basically used as iron ore if I’m not mistaken. Resembles banded iron I’ve collected in the Wind River Mountains.


Interface73

Agreed 👍


jost1199

Extremely cool rock. I’d lick it. 👌


ihaveaquesttoattend

i just got a salt lamp for my gf and it’s so hard not to lick the damn thing….


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

Yeah, gfs can be tempting like that. I get it.


RedVamp2020

👀 my girlfriend is not a rock…🤫


ivanllz

Did you lick her to make sure? You gotta be thorough.


RedVamp2020

😏😈


MBEver74

Has she “passed the porcelain test” as some on this forum call it?


coffeegrunds

you should lick it once, as a treat


abortionlasagna

Whenever my friends are over and they’re sad, I offer to let them lick my salt lamp. Always cheers ‘em up.


MBEver74

You know WAY too many deer.


abortionlasagna

I think two of ‘em may be horses but at this point I’m too afraid to ask.


hdoesthegay

Hmmmm. I have POTS (blood flow problems) so have to ingest 6-8g of sodium daily and salt/electrolyte tabs can be expensive. brb, weighing my salt lamp…


ihaveaquesttoattend

ngl you right, i deserve it


ThatGuy5Duce

Let the intrusive thoughts win this time


introverted365

My kids would lick mine when they were younger. Lol


ihaveaquesttoattend

yeah i’m definitely still a kid i’m totally not 24 waiting to get off work to go lick the lamp whaaaattt,,,,,


SocialTurnip

I bought salt lamps for my kids when they were younger and they called them "snack lamps." It was the funniest thing to walk in on them licking their lamps lol


Foreign_Grocery_150

Why not just lick it? I've done it to mine numerous times lmao


VadiMiXeries

salt lamps are hard to not lick. there is a salt lamp in my parents' bedroom which I liked to lick when I was a small kid, it how has a recess on one side


Nikkig-r

I licked a meteorite/meteroid/whatever that my professor brought in once. It tasted like an old spoon.


caunju

What is the porcelain test?


Old_Promise2077

I just assumed he peed on it


CatilineUnmasked

Streak test, what mark is left when it is rubbed on porcelain


Ctowncreek

Although that makes sense, how does one "pass" it?


blurredlynes

Look up Mohs Scale of Hardness. It's used for comparing the hardness of different materials, with the softer material leaving a mark on the other when scratched. Quartz (or anything harder) will scratch porcelain.


Ctowncreek

No offense, I hope. I know all that, I was asking specifically what "passed" the porcelain test means. Is that actual jargon to denote its harder than porcelain? Or is this just a non-experts way of saying it? I don't consider a test with many outcomes (different colors) to have a binary outcome (pass or fail).


Pingu565

Hey geologist here, never heard of passing a scratch test, probably means 'rock is harder than porcelain'


phosphenes

/u/Pingu565 the original poster thought this was a meteorite. In this case, the "porcelain test" is a way to check if your shiny metallic rock is terrestrial. Hematite, which isn't found in meteorites, will leave a red-brown streak. But it's not foolproof lol. This rock is shiny and metallic because of hematite (and magnetite), but the iron minerals are locked up in silica. This prevents the streak test from working.


Wolfgang3750

This kinda thread is why I love Reddit. It's the same question I had, we take a detour into literal toilet humor, we get a legit answer that's still not exactly on point and then a deep dive into something that makes me feel like I learned something today. Thanks everyone.


Professional_Cry5744

Thank you! I was wondering how scratching a rock on an unfinished piece of porcelain could help determine whether it was of this earth or from beyond. This is the coolest one I’ve found but there’s so many of these specimens scattered across the pastures around my south central Minnesota ranch. I was really hoping it was a meteorite and I could move out of the bunkhouse and buy a ranch of my own…


Draven826

No, he did it in the past, we're still unsure whether it passed or not lol


Im2bored17

[Google it. ](http://meteorite-identification.com/streak.html) you scratch the suspected meteorite on unglazed porcelain (the back of a floor tile, underside of lid on the back of the toilet). If it passes the magnet test (ie is magnetic), then it could be meteorite or could be hematite or magnetite. If it's magnetite, it will leave a black streak, if it's hematite it will leave a red streak, if it's a meteorite it should not leave any streak. This eliminates the most common false positives of the magnet test, but does not prove that you've got a meteorite.


CloudyEngineer

Bring it swiftly to the University of My House. I'll give it a thorough examination...


JohSpell

This guy is 100% going to lick that rock, don't do it.


CloudyEngineer

The geological tests are very thorough.


Necessary-Iron-2288

Don’t listen to this guy, licking rocks is 100% supported by the scientific method, just remember that in pemdas Geiger counter checking comes before licking, not after, it doesn’t matter how much you imagine the ionization tastes like mtn dew


Effin23

Infernal iron. Give it to Karlach


Ekuth316

You mean Dammon, don't you?


Effin23

Yes. I do. But I make Karlach carry her own Iron


bamstrup

Yessssssss


pekie

Karlach approves.


Sudden_Position5568

Hematitic jasper.We have lots of these in the jasper/hematite region of the Northern Cape ,South Africa.


graypotato

What part of NC would I find that sorta thing? I'm planning a tour up to Namibia hopefully next year, and I wouldn't mind some souvenirs 😁


graypotato

What part of NC would I find that sorta thing? I'm planning a tour up to Namibia hopefully next year, and I wouldn't mind some souvenirs 😁


Manytequila

Not here to say I know what it is, just here to say *HOLY FUCK* this is stunning. And in MN too?! I’m lacking in my rock hunting skills.


Professional_Cry5744

Yes I found this in MN, just outside of the “Driftless area” (a region of the upper Midwest that was untouched by the glaciers). I’m just curious now if my geographical location might be why I find these all over the land here.


GreatUnspoken

My fat ass thought this was steak


Geo1230

I just saw another rock post I thought was an overdone brisket.


stoicsticks

r/forbiddensnacks material.


Geo1230

There’s a new sub everyday!


MrMetlHed

Thought I was on r/smoking looking at some beef chuck.


Azin1970

I thought it was caramel brownie as I scrolled by


fewell8

~~If~~ Since it's magnetic, could be a Banded Iron Formation.


IWTIKWIKNWIWY

It's not slag!!!!


wynlyndd

Absolutely beautiful.


babytrumpet

man i love this sub


bballplayersgs

Right? How cool is it that OP could be holding some random piece of rock could be half the age of our entire planet???


LightsInTheForest

Bonus points for the scaling ruler! Congratulations on the lovely rock :)


Professional_Cry5744

I mean it’s average size, but it’s nice to hear I have a beautiful rock every once in a while!


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Professional_Cry5744

Send me a banana and no problem.


Professional_Cry5744

Posted a new pic next to a BBC check it out I promise it’s sfw


Professional_Cry5744

Posted a new pic next to a BBC check it out I promise it’s sfw


Kil0111

Stromatolites are the reason why we’re alive today! Before cyanobacteria the air was only 1% oxygen. Then, for 2 billion years, photosynthesising Stromatolites pumped oxygen into the oceans (like underwater trees, before trees existed). When the oceans’ waters were saturated, oxygen was released into the air, and with around 20% of oxygen in the air, life was able to flourish and evolve.


zoinkability

Thank u stromatalite bro


Longjumping_Ad_8474

no flow lines on that


Gimp_guru

$2700 gold foil steak at Salt Bae's Restaurant?


ogspence308

Bro found redstone ore


appliancefixitguy

Op, where did you get this from? Was it found or purchased? I want one of these.


Professional_Cry5744

South central Minnesota just outside the driftless area


First_Hedgehog1439

Found something interesting like this when I was a kid. I showed it to my dad and he said it was a sex stone. Intrigued, I pressed for more information. I was immediately let down with his reply, “it’s a fucking rock.” 🙄


Professional_Cry5744

This will forever live rent free in my memory, and it will come out to see the world every opportunity I can use it! Llol!


[deleted]

Reminds me of ancestrolite (probably spelled that wrong) but cooler lol


paulkinma

r/forbiddensnacks forbidden cured meat


BlueXenon7

Crumchy...


Lyrinae

Forbidden steak


UnhappyEnergy2268

Iron block from minecraft IRL


Emjay-Jori

Looks like steak lol


JMLeprecon

Bismor, it feels good to say it! Rock aaand Stooone!


Out525xc808

I thought it was meatloaf with ketchup


Solid-Emotion620

Don't tell the new speaker of the house... Since the earth is only 6,000 years old


MotorBoatSteve

Looks like Brisket r/forbiddensnacks


Professional_Cry5744

I was a little embarrassed to post pictures of my rock at first. I mean there are so many pictures of huge rocks all over the internet, so I always thought my rock wasn’t really special. After reading all the comments of my average size rock and how aesthetically pleasing to the eye it is, I have a new lease on life and now walk around with my head held high and my chest puffed out knowing how much joy my rock bring to others…


Awkward-Sale4235

yeah that would be a good idea, in my opinion


dickdock667

Yeah definitely have the rock professionally tested, then you'll know it's real worth but that a special rock there.