INTRODUCTION: Limestone;

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of the mineral calcite. It most commonly forms in clear, warm, shallow marine waters. It is usually an organic sedimentary rock that forms from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal and fecal debris. It can also be a chemical sedimentary rock formed by the precipitation of calcium carbonate from lake or ocean water.

Limestone-Forming Environment - Marine: Most limestone’s form in shallow, calm, warm marine waters. That type of environment is where organisms capable of forming calcium carbonate shells and skeletons can easily extract the needed ingredients from ocean water. When these animals die their shell and skeletal debris accumulate as sediment that might be lithified into limestone. Their waste products can also contribute to the sediment mass. Lime stones formed from this type of sediment are biological sedimentary rocks. Their biological origin is often revealed in the rock by the presence of fossils.

Some lime stones can form by direct precipitation of calcium carbonate from marine or fresh water. Lime stones formed this way are chemical sedimentary rocks. They are thought to be less abundant than biological lime stones.

Limestone-Forming Environment - Evaporative: A drop of water hangs and evaporates on the tip of a stalactite. National Park Service image.Limestone can also form through evaporation. Stalactites, stalagmites and other cave formations (often called "speleothems") are examples of limestone that formed through evaporation. In a cave, droplets of water seeping down from above enter the cave through fractures or other pore spaces in the cave ceiling. There they might evaporate before falling to the cave floor. When the water evaporates, any calcium carbonate that was dissolved in the water will be deposited on the cave ceiling. Over time this evaporative process can result in an accumulation of icicle-shaped calcium carbonate on the cave ceiling. These deposits are known as stalactites. If the droplet falls to the floor and evaporates there a stalagmite could grow upwards from the cave floor.

The limestone that makes up these cave formations is known as "travertine" and is a chemical sedimentary rock. A rock known as "tufa" is a limestone formed by evaporation at a hot spring, lake shore, or other area.

Composition of Limestone:  Limestone is by definition a rock that contains at least 50% calcium carbonate in the form of calcite by weight. All lime stones contain at least a few percent other materials. These can be small particles of quartz, feldspar, clay minerals, pyrite, siderite and other minerals. It can also contain large nodules of chert, pyrite or siderite.

The calcium carbonate content of limestone gives it a property that is often used in rock identification - it effervesces in contact with a cold solution of 5% hydrochloric acid.

Varieties of Lime stone: There are many different names used for limestone. These names are based upon how the rock formed its appearance or its composition and other factors. Here are some of the more commonly used.

Chalk:A soft limestone with a very fine texture that is usually white or light gray in color. It is formed mainly from the calcareous shell remains of microscopic marine organisms such as foraminifers or the calcareous remains from numerous types of marine algae.

Coquina:A poorly-cemented limestone that is composed mainly of broken shell debris. It often forms on beaches where wave action segregates shell fragments of similar size.

Fossiliferous Limestone:A limestone that contains obvious and abundant fossils. These are normally shell and skeletal fossils of the organisms that produced the limestone.

Lithographic Limestone: A dense limestone with a very fine and very uniform grain size that occurs in thin beds that separate easily to form a very smooth surface. In the late 1700's a printing process (lithography) was developed to reproduce images by drawing them on the stone with an oil-based ink and then using that stone to press multiple copies of the image.

Oolitic Limestone: A limestone composed mainly of calcium carbonate "oolites", small spheres formed by the concentric precipitation of calcium carbonate on a sand grain or shell fragment.

Travertine:A limestone that forms by evaporative precipitation, often in a cave, to produce formations such as stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone.

Tufa:A limestone produced by precipitation of calcium-laden waters at a hot spring, lake shore or other location.

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