The tropical climate during the late Cretaceous in southern Limburg allowed corals to grow in the shallow, warm waters. With the sea withdrawing almost completely from time to time, however, typical coral reefs like the ones we know from modern tropical oceans, did not develop as the sea withdrew almost completely from time to time. The skeleton of a coral animal almost always consists of the mineral aragonite, which dissolves easily in water. This explains why the fossils found in the Maastricht Chalks are always external casts of the skeletons. Two common coral species in the Maastricht Chalks are Diploctenium and Cunnolites (= Cyclolites), both of which are solitary corals. A colonial coral which occurs especially in the unit known as the Meerssen Chalk is Heterocoenia (Bacillastraea)

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