MARRA MAMBA TIGER'S - EYE SLAB. ...

Description

MARRA MAMBA TIGER'S - EYE SLAB
Paleoproterozoic
Mt Brockman Station, Western Australia
About 2 Billion years ago the Pilbara and many of the other very old pieces of the continental crust were joined together in a supercontinent. When this supercontinent started to break up, waters heated up by volcanic activity dissolved much of the silica from banded iron formation units, leaving huge iron ore deposits of almost pure hematite (more than 65% iron). In other places, red and yellow iron oxides and/or silica were deposited as veins or replaced the wall areas of fine cracks in the host rock. In some instances, heated watery fluid redeposit minerals within the formations and in one small area of Western Australia, the resulting stone is known as Marra Mamba; in a red jasperlite host rock and banded with hematite and splashes of iron pyrite, it is the most beautiful and highly sought-after form of Tiger's - eye there is. The source is now mined out and only rare specimens make their way onto the market, very few of a size and quality comparable to the lots offered here. Sliced and polished, this Marra Mamba slab is like a wonderful canvas of natural abstract art. Bands and splashes of deep olive and bottle green, blood red and metallic black are intermingled with the shimmering golden Tiger's - eye and orange-brown limonite to incredible effect. Left with a naturally contoured edge, it measures 39 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 3/8 inches and stabilized with an aluminum backing.

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