North American Rift
-
North American Rift (RIFT6)
Notes specific to this specimen: A very dynamic piece. Beautiful snow-white quartz veins with a unique deep Smoky Quartz crystal vug in one of the complex fractures of jet-black Rove Formation. Never seen anything like it. Usually when the veins have crystals they are simply terminations of the predominant mineral filling the fracture. But not in this case! This piece is 100% natural with no cuts or polishings.
SIZE: 2″ x 3″ x 1.5″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2025
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$85.00North American Rift (RIFT6)
$85.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT2)
Notes specific to this specimen: This is a very 3-D piece with front and bottom sawn and smooth, while the rest is natural rough. Beautiful citrine and smoky quartz infilling the fractures of jet-black Rove Formation. Some small crystal-lined cavities. Cut front face has a smooth satin finish. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 3″x 3″x 2″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2022
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$165.00North American Rift (RIFT2)
$165.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT1)
Notes specific to this specimen: Great jagged healed fractures! Beautiful white quartz and citrine infilling mixed with a hint of green fluorite in the fractures of jet-black Rove Formation. Cut front face has a nice smooth satin finish. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom, allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 3″x 3″x 2″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2025
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$185.00North American Rift (RIFT1)
$185.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT4)
Notes specific to this specimen: AWhite quartz infills the fractures of jet-black Rove Formation, framed in veins of purple fluorite. Cut front face is polished while the back is natural but just as impressive. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 2″x 2″x 4″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2022
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$185.00North American Rift (RIFT4)
$185.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT3)
Notes specific to this specimen: Abundance of healed fractures makes this piece a beautiful zebra-striped pattern. Stark white quartz and a faint amethyst infills the fractures of jet-black Rove Formation. Cut front face is polished while the back is natural but just as impressive. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 4″x 4″x 1.5″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2022
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$265.00North American Rift (RIFT3)
$265.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT7)
Notes specific to this specimen: Beautiful white quartz infills the fractures of jet-black Rove Formation, with an edge vein of purple fluorite. Cut front face is polished while the back is natural but just as impressive. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 5″ x 6″ x 2″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2025
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$625.00North American Rift (RIFT7)
$625.00 -
North American Rift (RIFT5)
Notes specific to this specimen: Incredible find! You can just about feel the rock ripping apart – a very dynamic piece. One of the best we’ve seen. Beautiful citrine and smoky quartz infilling in these graphic fractures of jet-black Rove Formation. Cut front face is polished. This specimen is a “stand-up” with a cut flat bottom allowing it to sit upright to show off the display face. Back is naturally rough.
SIZE: 5″x 6″x 2″
Minerals: White Quartz, Citrine, Fluorite
Age: Mesoproterozoic Era – 1.1 billion years
Unit: Rove Formation
Site: Cerdito Prospect, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Collected: 2025
By: Jon & JulieDocumentation: This authentic fossil specimen comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and Origin.
$1,425.00North American Rift (RIFT5)
$1,425.00
North American Rift – A Snapshot in Time
Not your typical Fracture Zone! Our site in the wilds of Ontario is the only place you’ll find this super unique and very interesting evidence of the ancient Midcontinent Rift, a major North American geologic event that occurred about 1.1 billion years ago and was centered in the area that is now Lake Superior. At that time, east and west North America were spreading apart from each other like the Great Rift Valley of Africa. As spreading continued the continent nearly split in two along a bow-shaped crustal divergence that extended from Kansas, arcing northeast through the present-day Lake Superior Basin, and angling southeast through Michigan.
As this happened major faults and fracture zones formed in the host rock of the crust – in this case the jet-black Rove Formation, which was laid down as very fine sediment in a deep water basin The clay-rich mud hardened into rock long before the rifting occurred. During the rifting process the Rove Fm. rock became heavily fractured. These fractures filled with quartz minerals, including amethyst, smokey quartz, citrine, white quartz, and clear crystal – sometimes all in the same piece! For reasons unknown, after about 24 million years or so the rift failed and spreading stopped.
A billion years later, Ice Age glaciers advanced and retreated several times over this area and carved out the old rift fracture zones, resulting in Lake Superior’s unique boomerang shape today. We dug into this strange site and discovered graphic, jagged fracture veins filled with minerals- some even have cavities that are lined with crystals This Pacific GeoLab site is the only location where evidence of the Midcontinent Rift event is preserved in such vivid and beautiful detail.