Limestone Rocks Facts

Limestone is one of the most versatile stones available to us. Limestone is a sedimentary rock, that has its primary ingredient as calcium carbonate (CaCaO₃). Limestone ordinarily is white, but can appear in different colors and patterns due to impurities. Impurities of iron oxide give the rock brown, yellow or red color. Impurities of carbon can give it a blue, black or gray color. The texture of this stone can be coarse to fine. Limestone mostly is more expensive than marble, granite and travertine rocks.

Limestone Rock Formation
So, where are limestone rocks found, and exactly how rocks are formed? Here is limestone rock description, on its formation.

As already mentioned above, limestone primarily consist of calcium carbonate in the form of the mineral calcite. Mostly, limestone is formed and found in clear, shallow, warm marine waters. Limestone is usually an organic sedimentary rock, which forms from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal and fecal debris. Limestone can also get formed due the precipitation of calcium carbonate from lake or ocean water. Limestone are found in shallow water areas between 30 degrees north latitude and 30 degrees south latitude, it is found in the regions of the Caribbean Sea, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, around the Pacific Ocean islands and within the Indonesian archipelago.

Limestone Rock Types
Given below are the different types of limestone rocks explained in short.

• Chalk: Chalk is very fine and soft in texture, which is usually white or light gray in color. It is formed by the calcareous shell remains of very small marine organisms.
• Tufa: This type of limestone is produced by precipitation of calcium laden waters at a hot spring, near a lake or other water body location.
• Fossiliferous: This limestone is abundant in fossils, which are the shell and skeletal fossils of organisms that produced this kind of limestone.
• Oolitic : This limestone is composed mostly of oolites, which are small spherical objects that are formed by the concentric precipitation of calcium carbonate on surface of sand grains.
• Coquina: This poorly cemented limestone, is made of broken shell debris, it often forms on beaches, where waves segregates shell fragments of similar size.
• Lithographic: This is a dense limestone which is made of very fine and uniform grain. During the late 1700's lithography, which is a printing process was developed to reproduce images, by drawing images on stone with an ink, and then these stones were used to make multiple copies.

Limestone Rocks Uses
Most of the limestone uses, can be attributed to the distinguishing limestone rock properties, which are its good hardness level and its chemical property of being readily dissolvable in certain materials. Here are some facts about limestone and its uses.

• Limestone is cut into blocks and used for construction and in architecture, it is used for making facing stone, floor tiles, window sills, stair treads, etc.
• It is also used as a flux stone, where it is used in smelting and other metal refining processes.
• Fine crushed limestone is used for making weather and heat resistant roofing.
• As lime is an acid neutralizing agent, it is used as a soil treatment agent in agricultural practices.
• Pulverized limestone is sprayed on the walls of mines, so that it reduces the chances of explosion, and the white color of powder also helps in illumination.
• Limestone is also used to make Portland cement, and used in various construction.
• Calcium carbonate is given to chicken and cattle as a dietary supplement.

Limestone has many more other uses. Limestone is one of the most versatile among rocks due to its uses, and hence are used for making the houses we live in to a piece of chalk stick that we use for writing.