What is Boundstone?

Boundstone is a indigenous deposit of limestone that was bound by algae, corals or other unicellular organism when it was created. Boundstone is located in areas surrounding coral reefs and areas that were coral reef 2.5-3 million years ago, but today they can be surrounded by dry soil. Depending on the way the organic matter was arranged in the sediment when the stone was created and what kind of organic matter it was, Boundstone can be classified as either a framework, binding stone or bafflestone. These mushrooms were bound by microbial crusts and hard sand alive and the space between gradually filled with sand, sediment and calcite crystals. Over the time the water receded and the structure was continuously exposed to air, the natural cementation effect of a densely packed sediment preserved organic matter as fossils. Framestone is named for the “frame” that provides organic matter and can be found in massively large or small dense deposits.

Bindstone is characterized by a more random scattering of organic binding substances that may or may not be maintained. The most common binding agent in Bindstone is the algae that holds together a layer of mud and calcite with large "pores" caused by gas bubbles that have caught in the sediment during the formation. Stromatolites, which are fossilized hills of laminated mats and sediment, are the most common form of bindstone. Most bindstone deposits are oriented vertically as opposed to horizontally, due to the method of layering in which they are formed. The stone base consists of algae that is formed laterally, then built by mud and other algae vertically and laterally and changes with environmental conditions. Bindstone is the most commonly found type of border stone.

Bafflestone is bound by thick walls, parallel columns of corals that allow to pass only by fine grain sediment. As a result, the composition of BafflestonU, other than fossilized coral, is usually naturally cemented sand and mud. The sand consists of a homogeneous calcite and the mud consists of a mixed rest that remained behind after the carbonate mud was filtered out. The unique structure of Baffleston means that it can only be formed on colonies with vertically growing corals and around it and is therefore limited to small individual or grouped deposits. Bafflestone is named for a "incomprehensible" event exposed to coral columns during stone formation.