Douglas H. Chadwick. Wildlife biologist, Douglas H. Chadwick, along with spelunker, Don Michow search 90 feet below the Bighorn Mountains near the Wyoming-Montana line for coral reefs. This reef is called the Madison Formation and is a geological landscape. Throughout geological history a variety of marine organisms have created coral reefs.
Corals come in various distinctive shapes and sizes.
Coral heads are very tiny colonies of polyps that are individually surrounded by limestone for protection. It can take coral colonies decades to flourish because they grow approximately inch per year. Coral reefs surround us closer than the nearest ocean. When cut into masonry, coral helps to house people. When it is crushed, coral becomes cement and as marble, coral is turned into an art of many forms.