A GOGOTTE OLIGOCENE (THIRTY MILLION YEARS OLD), FONTAINEBLEAU, FRANCE

the greyish-white formation with a natural flattened assemblage of irregular concretions of varying sizes, stand

This gogotte formation, which could unknowingly be a contemporary sculpture if not for its age of millions of years, is composed of tiny grains of quartz forged together with calcium carbonate (sandstone). These formations, or concretions, developed over time through the swirling of heated water emerging through crevices into a basin of extremely fine white sand. Each unique and otherworldly, these strange forms capture the imagination.  

Gogotte concretions can be found in natural history museums around the world.  A particularly well-preserved example is on display at Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History illustrated at http://www.mccullagh.org/image/10d-5/sandstone-concretion.html.