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What is Agatized Coral?

Agatized Coral

Agatized Coral is a type of fossil that forms when silica minerals replace the original calcium carbonate skeleton of a coral colony over a period of millions of years. This replacement process creates beautiful specimens with cave-like appearances [1][4].

The process of forming agatized coral takes 20-30 million years and is known as pseudomorphic. These fossils are from the Oligocene-Miocene period and are between 38-25 million years old [5].

Agatized Coral is a rare type of mineralized fossil consisting of a variety of fine-grained crystalline quartz called chalcedony, and was chosen by the state legislature in 1979 as the Florida state rock [3].

Sources:

  1. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100years/agatized-fossil-coral/

  2. https://moonrisecrystals.com/agatized-coral-meaning/

  3. https://www.imagineourflorida.org/agatized-coral/

  4. https://www.stetson.edu/other/gillespie-museum/agatized-coral.php