OOParts:
Klerksdorp Spheres
Naturally Curious
The
Klerksdorp Spheres are small objects, often spherical to
disc-shaped, which have been collected by miners and
collector from 3-billion-year-old pyrophyllite deposits
mined by Wonderstone Ltd., near Ottosdal, South Africa.
These objects have been cited by alternative fringe
"researchers" as inexplicable out of place artifacts that
could only have been manufactured by intelligent beings.
Geologists, chemists, and archaeologists, who have
personally studied these objects, have argued that these
objects are not manufactured, but the result of natural
processes.
The
Klerksdorp "Spheres" typically range in diameter from 0.5 to
10 cm. As illustrated, they vary widely in shape from either
approximate or flattened spheres to well-defined discs and
often are intergrown. Petrographic and X-Ray diffraction
analyses of specimens of these objects found that they
consist either of hematite (Fe2O3) or wollastonite (CaSiO3)
mixed with minor amounts of hematite and goethite (FeOOH).
Observations by indicated that many of the Klerksdorp
"Spheres" found in unaltered pyrophyllite consist of pyrite
(FeS2) - all naturally occurring minerals, and unlikely to
be used in a manufacturing process. The color of the
specimens studied ranged from dark reddish brown, red, to
dusky red. The color of those objects composed of pyrite is
not known. All of the specimens of these objects, which were
cut open exhibited an extremely well-defined radial
structure terminating on either the center or centers of a
Klerksdorp "Sphere". Some of these objects exhibit
well-defined and parallel latitudinal grooves or ridges.
Even specimens consisting of intergrown flattened spheres
exhibit such grooves.
Geologists
agree that the Klerksdorp "Spheres" originated as
concretions, which formed in volcanic sediments, ash, or
both, that accumulated 3.0 billion years ago. Paul V.
Heinrich correctly argues that the wollastonite nodules
formed by the metamorphism of carbonate concretions in the
presence of silica-rich fluids generated during the
metamorphism of the volcanic deposits containing them into
pyrophyllite. It was also argued that the hematite nodules
represent pyrite concretions oxidized by weathering of near
surface pyrophyllite deposits. Below the near-surface zone
of weathering, which has developed in the pyrophyllite,
pyrite concretions are unaffected by weathering and, thus,
have not been transformed into hematite. The radial internal
structure of these objects is a pseudomorph after the
original crystalline structure of the original carbonate or
pyrite concretion.
Both Bruce Cairncross and Paul Heinrich argue that the
grooves exhibited by these concretions are natural in
origin. As proposed by Cairncross, the grooves represent
fine-grained laminations within which the concretions grew.
The growth of the concretions within the plane of the
finer-grained laminations was inhibited because of the
lesser permeability and porosity of finer-grained sediments
relative to the surrounding sediments. Faint internal
lamina, which corresponds to exterior groove, can be seen in
cut specimens. A similar process in coarser-grained
sediments created the latitudinal ridges and grooves
exhibited by innumerable iron oxide concretions found within
the Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah called "Moqui
Marbles". Latitudinal grooves are also found on carbonate
concretions found in Schoharie County, New York. The
latitudinal ridges and grooves of the Moqui marbles are more
pronounced and irregular than seen in the Klerksdorp (Ottosdal)
concretions because they formed in sand that was more
permeable than the fine-grained volcanic material in which
the the Klerksdorp (Ottosdal) concretions grew.
[
OOParts Visitor - remember that you can double-click any
word for a definition and more detail ]
Very similar concretions have been found within strata, as
old as 2.7 to 2.8 billion years, comprising part of the
Hamersley Group of Australia. The Australian concretions and
the Klerksdorp “Spheres” are among the oldest known examples
of concretions created by microbial activity during the
diagenesis of sediments.
Side view of typical calcareous concretions,
which exhibit equatorial grooves, found
within Schoharie County, New York.
While also unsubstantiated, there may be a
correlation between these concretions and the apparent
ancient meteor strike at Parys nearby.
Fringe Claims
The various pseudoscience and
fringe claims that these objects are either "perfectly
round" or perfect spheres is now known to be incorrect as
directly observed by Heinrich and others. These specimens
vary widely in shape, from noticeably flattened spheres to
distinct disks. Some of the Klerksdorp "spheres" are
intergrown with each other (as would occur if naturally
grown), like a mass of soap bubbles. The observations refute
claims that these objects are either always spherical or
isolated in their occurrence. Even grooved spheres are not
perfect spheres and some consist of intergrown spheres.
Similarly, the claims that these objects consist of metal,
i.e. "...a nickel-steel alloy which does not occur
naturally..." are definitely false as discovered by
Cairncross and Heinrich. The fact that many fringe web sites
that make this claim also incorrectly identify the
pyrophyllite quarries, from which these objects came, as the
"Wonderstone Silver Mine" is evidence that these authors
have not bothered to verify their sources validity, and
misinformation taken from other sources identifying these
quarries as silver mines is false. Silver has never
been mined in them in the decades in which these quarries
have been in operation.
Heinrich notes that one of
Cremo's sources regarding the allegedly anomalous spheres
was the Weekly World News which he described as "...a [sic]
unreliable source of data for discussing the origins of the
South African spheres described as used by Forbidden
Archeology". As noted by Cairncross, it appears that the
source of the Weekly World News article is an earlier
article by Barritt. This article appeared in a 1982 issue of
Scopes Magazine about these objects. Scopes Magazine was a
South African tabloid that, like the Weekly World News,
cannot be regarded in any way as being a credible source.
This is the fundamental problem with the fringe culture, in
that it repetitively copies incorrect and false information
from one website to another.
Additionally, Roelf Marx, (as quoted by Bruce Cairncross in
"Cosmic cannonballs" a rational explanation: The South
African Lapidary Magazine, and Pope and Cairncross in
"Cosmic Cannonballs a geologic explanation: ARIP View /
Association for the Rational Investigation of the
Paranormal), former curator of the Klerksdorp Museum,
reports that he was misquoted in regards to these objects.
Marx was quoted in popular articles as saying that the
objects rotated by themselves in vibration-free display
cases in the Klerksdorp Museum. Instead, Roelf Marx stated
that they rotated because of the numerous earth tremors
generated by underground blasting in local gold mining.
Similarly, inquiries of scientists, who studied these
objects, have found that the claims that NASA found these
objects to be either perfectly balanced, unnatural, or
puzzling are completely unsubstantiated.
Finally, published descriptions by Cremo, Barton, and other,
of these spheres being harder than steel are meaningless in
terms of Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Such descriptions
are meaningless because depending on either the type of heat
treatment, the type of steel alloy, and whether it is
case-hardened or not, the hardness of steel can vary quite
dramatically. Given that the type of steel is unspecified in
these accounts, it is impossible to assign a specific
hardness in terms of Mohs scale of mineral hardness from
such an observation and determine whether it indicates them
to be abnormally hard. There is a complete lack of any data
published in any formal scientific paper, which
substantiates that any of these spheres are abnormally hard
as implied by such purely anecdotal accounts by
non-geologists of these objects being harder than steel.
Moqui marbles (Iron oxide concretions)
Another type of concretion
sphere is known as Moqui Marbles. These are hematite
concretions, from the Navajo Sandstone of southeast Utah.
The Navajo Sandstone is well known among rockhounds,
planetary geologists, and practitioners of New Age religions
for the hundreds of thousands of iron oxide concretions
found there. They are believed by Fringe practitioners to
represent an extension of Hopi Native American traditions
regarding ancestor worship ("moqui" translates to "the dead"
in the Hopi language). Informally, they are called "Moqui
marbles" after the local proposed Moqui native American
tribe (they have alternately been called "Moqui balls," "Moki
marbles," "shaman stones" or "thunderballs" by various
enthusiasts). Thousands of these concretions weather out of
outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone within south-central and
southeastern Utah within an area extending from Zion
National Park eastward to Arches and Canyonland national
parks. They are quite abundant within Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
The iron oxide concretions found in the Navajo Sandstone
exhibit a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Their shape
ranges from spheres to discs; buttons; spiked balls;
cylindrical hollow pipe-like forms; and other odd shapes.
Although many of these concretions are fused together like
soap bubbles, many more also occur as isolated concretions,
which range in diameter from the size of peas to baseballs.
The surface of these spherical concretions can range from
being very rough to quite smooth. Some of the concretions
are grooved spheres with ridges and grooves around their
circumference like the Klerksdorp Spheres.
The abundant concretions found in the Navajo Sandstone
consist of sandstone cemented together by hematite (Fe2O3),
and goethite (FeOOH). The iron forming these concretions
came from the break down of iron-bearing silicate minerals
by weathering to form iron oxide coatings on other grains.
During later diagenesis of the Navajo Sandstone while deeply
buried, reducing fluids, likely hydrocarbons, dissolved
these coatings. When the reducing fluids containing
dissolved iron mixed with oxidizing groundwater, they and
the dissolved iron were oxidized. This caused the iron to
precipitate out as hematite and goethite to form the
innumerable concretions found in the Navajo Sandstone. These
concretions are regarded as terrestrial analogues of the
hematite spherules, called alternately Martian "blueberries"
or more technically Martian spherules, which the Opportunity
rover found at Meridiani Planum on Mars.
Sphere Gallery:
Pages:
Home
Klerksdorp Spheres
Acambaro Artifacts
References:
-
Cairncross, B., 1988,
"Cosmic cannonballs" a rational explanation: The South
African Lapidary Magazine. v. 30, no. 1, pp. 4-6.
-
Heinrich, P.V., 1997,
Mystery spheres: National Center for Science Education
Reports. v. 17, no.1, p. 34. (January/February 1997)
-
Heinrich, P.V., 2007,
South African concretions of controversy: South African
Lapidary Magazine. vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 7-11.
-
Heinrich, P.V., 2008, The
Mysterious “Spheres” of Ottosdal, South Africa. National
Center for Science Education Reports, v. 28, no. 1, pp.
28-33.
-
Heinrich, P.V. 1996. The
Mysterious Origins of Man: The South African Grooved
Sphere Controversy: Talk.Origins Archive.
-
Pope C. and B. Cairncross
1988. "Cosmic Cannonballs a geologic explanation: ARIP
View. no. 1., pp. 5-6. (ARIP = Association for the
Rational Investigation of the Paranormal)
Documents:
Related External Links:
|
