Bioclast

Bioclasts are skeletal fossil fragments of once living marine or land organisms that are found in sedimentary rocks laid down in a marine environment—especially limestone varieties around the globe, some of which take on distinct textures and coloration from their predominate bioclasts—that geologists, archaeologists and paleontologists use to date a rock strata to a particular geological era.

They were once found in areas where the difference in water depths and transport in oceans is the major factors controlling the regions richness in a certain species.

[3] The areas of higher richness are found in medium to very fine sand and muddy bottoms with the bioclasts being at the shallowest stations.

[5] An area where you are able to see ancient sediments and rocks that have bioclast components dominating their matrix is a valley that once connected the Miocene Sommières Basin in southern France to the Mediterranean Sea.

[5] Studies done with the help of plane polarized light of several different rock formations showing the kinds of bioclastic mixtures that were found in this basin.

In limestone rocks there are different types of possible bioclasts, depending on the region, time and the climate during the formation stage.

The kinds of skeletal particles present depend upon the age of the rock and the paleoenvironmental conditions from the time they were deposited.

They form where strong bottom currents and rough water conditions are present and where saturation levels of bicarbonates are high.