Freshwater/land coral?

[madd0ct0r]

Is there anything out there that is similar to coral (in that it builds up rock formations) but lives in freshwater, marshland or even on dry land?

I've been doing some looking, and know freshwater corals don't seem to exist.

Perhaps the closest 'landbuilder' would be peat bogs, but they only add a few mm each year. Ligin in trees takes a long time to break down, but it's still not the inorganic matrix I was hoping for.

[Sea Skimmer]

Can't think of anything, some little creatures do make shelters but that's about it. Since freshwater often has a high silt load, I suspect it wasn't really possible for something like coral reef lifecycles to evolve. The environment isn't stable enough to favor it long term compared to the downward slope of mass wasting.

[Irbis]

Is there anything out there that is similar to coral (in that it builds up rock formations) but lives in freshwater

Diatoms? Maybe not quite what you wanted, but they do create diatomaceous rocks. Other source of rock-like formations could be fresh water molluscs, but unlike diatoms or corals it would take very long time.

marshland

That environment in itself isn't very different from mostly water or earth one, so you're likely to encounter same species.

dry land?

Termites?

[madd0ct0r]

awesome! diatoms might do it.

lesse, they're dependent on silica acid to build their shells, which in turn can be produced from a hydration reaction between quartz and water.
hmm. will have to look into this further. Thanks!

[Patrick Ogaard]

Have you looked into stuff like travertine and tufa? For that matter, how about bog iron, which formed concreted deposits (Eisenstein) once employed as a building material in parts of Germany?

[madd0ct0r]

very cool, but my focus is more on biological driven land formation.

Still, that bog iron is a lovely counterpoint to the 'forged from a metorite' cliche.

[Tasoth]

Bryozoans. They're fresh water colonial organisms that form gelatinous masses on submerged objects. They do have a skeleton made of calcium carbonate, but not to the degree of coral. But if you're world building, a nudge to the point where they do is possible.

[madd0ct0r]

whoo, they look interesting too.

It links back to the starting SWGODS game, but also something I've a broader interest in.