Rock Identifier
Fossilized Syringopora Coral (Organ Pipe Coral Fossil) (Syringopora sp. (Class Anthozoa, Order Tabulata)) — fossil
fossil

Fossilized Syringopora Coral (Organ Pipe Coral Fossil)

Syringopora sp. (Class Anthozoa, Order Tabulata)

Hardness: 3 (if original calcite) to 7 (if replaced by quartz/silica). Color: Creamy off-white to tan corallite tubes embedded in a dark gray to brownish matrix. Luster: Dull to vitreous depending on silica content. Cleavage: None (fossilized structure).…

Hardness
3 (if original calcite) to 7 (if replaced by quartz/silica)
Luster
Dull to vitreous depending on silica content
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Physical properties

Hardness: 3 (if original calcite) to 7 (if replaced by quartz/silica). Color: Creamy off-white to tan corallite tubes embedded in a dark gray to brownish matrix. Luster: Dull to vitreous depending on silica content. Cleavage: None (fossilized structure). Shows repeating round cross-sections of tubular corallite structures connected by horizontal stolons.

Formation & geological history

Formed during the Paleozoic Era (primarily Silurian to Carboniferous periods, around 350 to 430 million years ago) in shallow, warm marine environments. Over millions of years, the calcium carbonate skeletons of these colonial corals were buried in sediment and permineralized or replaced by silica/calcite.

Uses & applications

Popular among fossil collectors, lapidary artists for cutting and polishing into display pieces or cabochons, educational geological specimens, and decorative garden display stones.

Geological facts

Syringopora is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by long, parallel, or diverging tubular corallites connected by thin horizontal bridge-like tubes (stolons), giving it a characteristic organ-pipe appearance.

Field identification & locations

Look for clusters of rounded or oval tubes embedded in limestone or chert matrix, with visible cross-connecting stolons along the longitudinal views. Common in North American and European Paleozoic limestone formations.

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