Editing Geyserite

{{Short description|Form of opaline silica often found around hot springs and geysers}}
[[Image:Geyserite.jpg|thumb|Geyserite from [[Iceland]]]]

'''Geyserite''', or '''siliceous sinter''', is a form of [[opal]]ine [[silica]] that is often found as crusts or layers around [[hot spring]]s and [[geyser]]s. [[Botryoidal]] geyserite is known as [[fiorite]]. Geyserite is porous due to the silica enclosing many small cavities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/sinter|title = Sinter &#124; mineral}}</ref> Siliceous sinter should not be confused with [[calcareous sinter]], which is made of [[calcium carbonate]].

In May 2017, evidence of the [[Earliest known life forms|earliest known life]] [[Evolutionary history of life#Colonization of land|on land]] may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite uncovered in the [[Pilbara craton|Pilbara Craton]] of [[Western Australia]].<ref name="PO-20170509">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Oldest evidence of life on land found in 3.48-billion-year-old Australian rocks |url=https://phys.org/news/2017-05-oldest-evidence-life-billion-year-old-australian.html |date=9 May 2017 |work=[[Phys.org]] |access-date=13 May 2017 }}</ref><ref name="NC-20170509">{{cite journal |last1=Djokic |first1=Tara |last2=Van Kranendonk |first2=Martin J. |last3=Campbell |first3=Kathleen A. |last4=Walter |first4=Malcolm R. |last5=Ward |first5=Colin R. |title=Earliest signs of life on land preserved in ca. 3.5 Ga hot spring deposits |date=9 May 2017 |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=8 |pages=15263 |doi=10.1038/ncomms15263 |pmid=28486437 |pmc=5436104 |bibcode=2017NatCo...815263D }}</ref>
[[File:Chinese Spring upper geyser basin yellowstone.jpg|thumb|left|Geyserite basin at Chinese Spring, [[Upper Geyser Basin]], [[Yellowstone]]]]
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==See also==
* {{annotated link|Abiogenesis}}
* {{annotated link|Geothermal areas of Yellowstone}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.mindat.org/show.php?id=9382 Mindat with location data]

{{Silica minerals}}
{{Rock type}}
{{Portal bar|Astronomy|Biology|Earth sciences|Evolutionary biology|Geology}}

[[Category:Geysers]]
[[Category:Opals]]
[[Category:Sedimentary rocks]]

[[de:Sinter]]

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