Mookaite (Windalia Radiolarite Formation, Lower Cretaceous; Western Australia) 12
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia. (~5.55 centimeters across at its widest)
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
The yellowish and reddish colors are from iron oxide impurities (limonite and hematite).
Mookaite (Windalia Radiolarite Formation, Lower Cretaceous; Western Australia) 12
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia. (~5.55 centimeters across at its widest)
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
The yellowish and reddish colors are from iron oxide impurities (limonite and hematite).