Stromatolites are layered structures formed primarily in shallow marine environments by the combined effects of sedimentation, precipitation, and growth of benthic microbial communities dominated by photosynthetic microbes. In addition to their paleontological value, they represent a potentially rich reservoir of information regarding length of day, obliquity (earth’s tilt), paleogeography, lunar orbit evolution and other valuable data spanning approximately 3 billion years of Earth history. On the right, stromatolites grow near the shoreline of an ocean on the ancient earth, before all other life existed, and the moon was much closer to the earth than it is now.
With the help of his father, Dr. Richard Ojakangas (professor emeritus of geology, University of Minnesota Duluth), and Dr. James Vanyo (UC Santa Barbara) Dr. Gregory Ojakangas was able to procure several samples of stromatolites from the Mesabi Iron Range, northern Minnesota. Their original orientation was carefully measured before removal from outcrop. The specimens were slabbed thinly at the Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth, MN, by John Heine. The layers were coated with mineral oil and scanned at 1800DPI at Drury University by Ojakangas. A thee-dimensional virtual environment was created in Matlab, so that all surfaces of the specimens could be examined relative to each other in an interactive manner. Below are some images resulting from this procedure. Ojakangas has spent years trying to extract secrets from these beautiful specimens. Current work continues with Dr. Stanley Awramik of UC Santa Barbara.
