Chris Beaudoin mentioned that his son visited Horseshoe Harbor up in Copper Harbor, briefly during his MTU orientation week and wanted to get back there to spend more time exploring, so Chris was able to join him on the adventure recently. He said he was particularly fascinated by the red-capped reef rocks offshore, which he thought look wild and savage, ready to fend off Lake Superior any day of the week.

The rock in the fourth photo drew the explorer's attention while they were standing on top the conglomerate ridge, as these rocks looked quite different from the surrounding ones, with intriguing patterns in them. According to an online article on Horseshoe Harbor discovered by Chris, they are stromatolites, which are the fossilized remains of ancient cyanobacteria which hypothetically formed mat-like colonies here about 1.1 billion years ago. He also directs our attention near the upper right of this photo, where you'll see a small arrow that someone drew on the formation to point something out. Chris said he'd love to read Capt. Paul or Dr. Nat's take on this, so hopefully they'll see this and chime in.

The last photo is a survey marker of some sort, from 1905 it looks like. Chris said he couldn't find anything online about it, so if anyone has any background on this marker, please fill us in. Interesting stuff here today and once again, a spot that I need to put on my "to do" list.

WOWOWOWOW!~ Isn't the Keweenaw simply magnificent?

Great pics!

Fantastic photos and one of the many great spots in the Keweenaw!!

Love the stromatolites. I haven't been out there in ages. Another
place to add to my list of places to visit next summer.

The Lake is gorgeous! And Chris' interesting finds are fascinating. Hoping Capt Paul and Dr Nat can elaborate on the formations.

Thanks Chris!

Magnificent!
Haven't heard from Jarmo in a while, https://www.pasty.com/cgi-bin/discus/board-profile.cgi?action=display_profile&profile=japei-cammies
...hope you're doing well, dude.

Stromatolites are formed by cyanobacteria. These photosynthetic microorganisms grow in colonies in shallow water and as they grow, they secrete a biofilm that traps sediment, making them then grow higher. Ultimately, they grow into domes and columns. These are very primitive organisms, the oldest known ones are around 3.5 billion years old. The ones in the Keweenaw date to about 1.1 billion years old, but ones in the Marquette area date to about 2.2 billion years. Cyanobacteria are very successful organisms. Stromatolites still grow today in some locations.

As to why the arrow is drawn on the rock and what it is pointing to, I can’t tell. My computer doesn’t show the photo in good enough resolution to see the details of the area. Feel free to e-mail me or Capt. Paul a high-resolution photo and maybe we can figure it out. We will be out there next summer working on a book Paul is writing, so if you are patient, we can look at it first-hand and report what we see.

I have looked and the picture is very good but I do not see the arrow either. Just got to love those stromatolites. Hard working little buggers from a few billion years ago.

4:00 pm today (Sunday) and the Copper Country is around 70 degrees?! Holy Wah!!

Alex, Jarmo is doing well as far as I know. My nephew saw them (the whole family) in August. They will be going to North Carolina in the summer. Their daughter lives there, an hour or so from my nephew and family.

The survey marker is called a Triangulation Station because of the triangle marking. The year placed was 1905. Normally the label "USE" would indicate either the name of the person doing the survey or the name of the land owner.

Triangulation by measuring angles between several markers is/was an important technique, as important as directly measuring distances with a tape or chain. There should be another marker close by called a Control Point. It would have more data and an arrow pointing to this Triangulation Station.

If not for the early cyanobacteria we would not be here as it was responsible for originally creating the first levels of Oxygen in the atmosphere.

I can't see the arrow on the rock either.

Wvyooper,

Start on the right hand side of the picture, about 2/5ths of the way down. Now go to the left to where there is a circular formation that looks like an eye. The arrow is just below and to the right of the 'eye'.

Richard...thanks for the update, glad to hear it.

I cropped a piece of the photo and placed a circle around the arrow to show where it's at:



I'm not sure what the arrow is pointing to either, other than maybe an interesting lamination that is different than the others. As Nat says, we'll be up there next summer as I'm finishing a book so we'll head out that way and have a look.

Looking forward to your book, Capt. Paul!

Wow, thanks so much for all your kind thoughts and information, everyone! D.A., thanks for the information on the survey marker. Capt Paul and Dr Nat, I sent you guys a closer view of the arrow and much more detailed features of the stromatolite surface. I'm not sure you received it; I've been having trouble emailing large files lately.

Great pictures. Also love the Boxcar picture and
the foggy freighter.