cladking Wrote:
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>This computer doesn't do well with PDF and the
>conversation might
>be a little over my head anyway but does it seem
>possible to anyone
>that this material could be to limestone as
>stalagmites are to stone?

Stalagmites are usually made out of travertine which is a sedimentary rock. However, I do understand the point you’re making... It's basically the underlying principle behind sedimentary rocks which are made from the sediments of weathered rocks. Limestones involve not just the rock cycle but the carbon cycle as well so they are a little more involved in this process than say a sandstone.

>Could it be naturally occurring reconstituted
>stone?

No... not in the sense of say a rock that has been crushed and then reconstituted. That produces a rock that geologist have ways of classifying. Having their own terms like breccia and microbreccias to describe them, which the Lauer sample is not an example. The Lauer sample did not experience any disintegration after it formed (other than a small veinlet filled with calcite) since it has weak bedding lamellae, although biotrubated while still sediments in a lagoon (i.e. small animals were digging through the loose sediments disturbing them) The Lauer sample has undergone a degree of recrystallization of the calcite and dissolution producing vugs (Harrell & Penrod 1993), but this is a in-situ process that does not involve disintegration of the rock.

Archae Solenhofen (solenhofen@hotmail.com)