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Kane

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Although fossil finding was not part of our vacation itinerary, fossils found us. After our boat docked outside of the strip just outside the town of Montego Bay, there was a large shelf of limestone filled with coral fossils. I had just been snorkelling in the living coral reef at Secrets Bay, and it was fabulous to see corals in living colour with all those abundant tropical fish eddying about. 

 

The limestone here dates between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, and is largely dominated by coral. Some of the specimens in the rock have very nicely defined corallites. As I didn't think to bring a rock hammer on vacation, I did manage to find a loose rock to hack out a few small specimens. This first batch shows these corals in their raw, in situ context:

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Given the availability of this limestone, it is commonly used as a building material - either in saw-cut finish or fully polished, for pool edging, patio tiles, walls, and floors. Obviously I could only collect pictures as I don't think others would take kindly to me chiseling out hunks of floor or wall! In this batch of images, there are some very nicely defined corals in various shapes, but also a gastropod and an oyster shell fossil.

 

Although there was no expectation that we'd stumble upon fossils on our trip, this was a neat surprise with the added bonus of observing them poolside with cocktails. :D 

 

 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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On 12/20/2017 at 9:03 AM, Kane said:

Given the availability of this limestone, it is commonly used as a building material - either in saw-cut finish or fully polished, for pool edging, patio tiles, walls, and floors. Obviously I could only collect pictures as I don't think others would take kindly to me chiseling out hunks of floor or wall! In this batch of images, there are some very nicely defined corals in various shapes, but also a gastropod and an oyster shell fossil.

 

Although there was no expectation that we'd stumble upon fossils on our trip, this was a neat surprise with the added bonus of observing them poolside with cocktails. :D 

 

 

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When the zombie apocalypse comes, will you finish what you started and take the building (in pieces) with you for your collection? :P

Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such.

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Hi @Kane!

 

I am :envy: for two reasons:

1. You found some pretty coral fossils - I love how detailed some of them are, particularly this one:

 

On 12/20/2017 at 8:56 AM, Kane said:

 

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2. You were enjoying the warmth of the sun while I was stuck here in the snow!!!  And it has been freezing, too - NOT fun at all!!!  Is winter over yet?!?!?! :P

 

I hope you had a fantastic holiday!!! :)

 

Monica

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Just about every place in the Caribbean that I have visited has natural rock outcrop containing abundant coral. It is frequently used as building stone. A few years ago I visited Colombia and the big fort at Cartegena is made of coral rock. Here's a picture of the fort (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas) and a close up of the blocks.

 

 

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