Petoskey Stone A Petoskey Stone is a rock, but also a fossil and it can be found in some areas of Mi

Petoskey StoneA Petoskey Stone is a rock, but also a fossil and it can be found in some areas of Michigan. Usually, these stones have the shape of a pebble and are constituted by rugose corals of the Genus Hexagonaria.During the Devonian period, colonial corals of Hexagonaria had the ideal conditions to thrive in tropical reefs near the equator in what today is Michigan (around 350-400 million years ago Michigan was a better location for a nice summer vacation). When tectonic movements pushed Michigan towards the north and above sea level, dry land formations were generated. More recently, around 2 million years ago, the Petoskey Stones were formed as a result of glaciation. The bedrock was scraped and the fossils were scattered across the northern Lower Peninsula. The biggest concentrations were deposited in the Petoskey area. These unique stones are Michigan’s official state stone since 1965.Petoskey Stones are composed by six-sided corallites (the skeletons of the previously living coral polyps) and the darker center (as you may see in the pictures) was the individual’s mouth. The white lines that surround the mouths were tentacles and these structures were responsible to bring food to the mouth.Both the city of Petoskey and the stones were named after the Ottawa Indian Chef Pe-to-se-ga, which means Rising Sun. This was because of the stones’ white lines pattern that resembled sun rays.Petoskey Stones can be found in several beaches (and other inland areas, such as gravel pits and farmers’ fields) from Michigan. The most popular areas to find these rocks are near Charlevoix and, of course, Petoskey. When the rocks are dry, they look like ordinary limestone, but if they are wet or polished, the beautiful hexagonal pattern arises.You can find Petoskey Stones for sale, and already polished as in the pictures below, but if you find a specimen when taking a walk on a promising location, you can polish it yourself, since these stones are made up of calcite (which is not difficult to hand polish). You just need some sandpaper, a piece of velvet, polishing powder and water. If you have some specimens, please feel free to share your photos.SuSources:http://bit.ly/2mvDfslhttp://bit.ly/1pejJNehttp://bit.ly/2z9uSIEPhoto Credits:http://bit.ly/2zIZ39m - photo by Michelle Pembertonhttp://bit.ly/2z8bdJ9 - photo by Michelle Pembertonhttp://bit.ly/2j1cnLG - photo by Cobalt123http://bit.ly/2yNCmgn - photo by Kazvorpal -- source link

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