.LakeMichiganSunset

gallery

I shaped and polished this stone that I found washed up on the shore. It was quite large and I was fascinated by it because it is a fossil colonial coral that lived in the warm Michigan seas during the Devonian time around 350 million years ago. During the Devonian time, Michigan was quite different.Geographically, what is now Michigan was near the equator. A warm shallow sea covered the State. This warm, sunny sea was an ideal habitat for marine life. A Devonian reef had sheltered clams, cephalopods, corals, crinoids, trilobites, fish, and many other life forms. The soft living tissue of the coral was called a polyp. At the center of this was the area where food was taken in, or the mouth. This dark spot, or eye, has been filled with mud of silt that petrified after falling into the openings. Surrounding the openings were tentacles that were used for gathering food and drawing it into the mouth. The living coral that turned into the Petoskey stone thrived on plankton that lived in the warm sea. Calcite, silica and other minerals have replaced the first elements of each cell. Each separate chamber, then, on each Petoskey stone, was a member of a thriving colony of living corals. For that reason the Petoskey stone is called a colony coral. The Petoskey stone can be found anywhere in the state from the Traverse City area across the state to Alpena. They can be found in gravel pits, and on road beds. However, the biggest influx of stones are found on and around Little Traverse Bay, in the town that gave the stone it’s name, Petoskey.