Stromatoporata (Stromatoporoids)

Stromatoporoidea is a class of aquatic invertebrates common in the fossil record from the Ordovician through the Cretaceous. They were especially abundant in the Silurian and Devonian. These invertebrates were important reef-formers throughout the Paleozoic and the Late Mesozoic. The group was previously thought to be related to the corals and placed in the Phylum Cnidaria. They are now classified in the sponges (Phylum Porifera), specifically the sclerosponges. There are numerous fossil forms with spherical, branching or encrusting skeletons of laminated calcite with vertical pillars between the laminae.

Stromatoporoids are useful markers whose form and occurrence can diagnose the depositional environment of sedimentary strata.

Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatoporoidea

Shapes of the stromatoporoid colonies

A section through the stromatoporoid colony

Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6555
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6556
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6557
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6558
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6560
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK6561
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK5221
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK5222
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				JK5223
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				ZT13
Stromatoporoidea Stearn, 1972				FF720
Stromatoporoidea				VK166
Syringostromella borealis				XA94

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Virtual museum of the Czech Geological Survey, www.geology.cz, (C) Czech Geological Survey, 2011, v.0.99 [13.12.2011]