The remains of once living things.
The calcite found in organically formed limestone comes from the skeletons, shells, and remains of marine organisms such as corals, mollusks, and foraminifera. These organisms extract calcium carbonate from the water to build their calcium carbonate structures, which eventually accumulate and solidify to form limestone rocks.
The fine-grained sedimentary rock, limestone is mostly made up of calcite. Most limestones are formed in oceans, and sometimes from seashells. Some may be formed in lakes. Limestone is a form of sedimentary rock.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate: CaCO3). (Wikipedia)For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Wikipedia) indicated directly below this answer section.
It is a sedimentary rock, and is therefore formed when layers of sand/mud and animal remains fall to the bottom of an ocean or lake, and slowly decompose and are crushed together by the weight of the water, forming a rock. This is why sedimentary rocks often contain fossils- its those dead animals.
Limestone deposits suggest that they were formed in a marine environment, typically in shallow, warm, and calm waters where the accumulation of calcium carbonate skeletons and shells of marine organisms was prevalent. The presence of fossils within limestone can indicate the past biodiversity and environmental conditions of the area where the deposits formed. Additionally, the purity and composition of the limestone can provide clues about the depositional processes and the source of the materials.
The principal component of limestone is the mineral calcite, but limestone frequently also contains the minerals dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) and aragonite (CaCO3). Pure calcite, dolomite, and aragonite are clear or white. However, with impurities, they can take on a variety of colors. Consequently, limestone is commonly light colored; usually it is tan or gray. However, limestone has been found in almost every color. The color of limestone is due to impurities such as sand, clay, iron oxides and hydroxides, and organic materials. All limestone forms from the precipitation of calcium carbonate from water. Calcium carbonate leaves solutions in many ways and each way produces a different kind of limestone. All the different ways can be classified into two major groups: either with or without the aid of a living organism.
Pure limestone is made of calcium carbonate. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or flint, as well as varying amounts of clay, silt and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers within the rock. The primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. These organisms secrete shells that settle out of the water column and are deposited on ocean floors as pelagic ooze or alternatively is conglomerated in a coral reef (see lysocline for information on calcite dissolution). Secondary calcite may also be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters (groundwater that precipitates the material in caves). This produces speleothems such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is that of oolites (oolitic limestone) which can be recognized by its granular appearance. Limestone makes up about 10% of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. Calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases.
I think I know what you mean.The vast majority of the world's caves are formed in limestone by water dissolving the calcium carbonate that is the rock's main constituent. As for "type", well, almost any "type" by age or source of limestone physically capable of supporting itself above the developing void. Caves will also form in marble (metamorphosed limestone) and in gypsum (calcium sulphate), in the same way.So the limestone is not "often found in caves" - except as boulders that fallen from the roof, or re-precipitated as calcite stalactites etc - but is literally all around almost all caves!More to the point perhaps is the combination of factors that encourage or discourage caves to form in a given limestone area, and that is far more complex.
Marble is a metamorphic rock with a parent rock of limestone or dolostone and is formed by natural processes by heat and pressure. The heat may be derived by proximity to a magmatic intrusion or from depth of burial.
Marble is formed from limestone being buried, heated and subjected to pressure, causing minerals to recrystallise into different atomic structures, forming different minerals to the original limestone. In laymans terms this is the process that occurs to form all metamorphic rocks. The type of metamorphic rock formed is dependant on the chemical and mineral composition of the source rock, and the amount of heat and pressure the source rock is subjected to.
Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from the remains of plants and trees, used as a fuel source. Limestone is a sedimentary rock made mostly of calcium carbonate, used in construction and manufacturing. Both have different origins, compositions, and uses.
Dorset, a county in southern England, is not a significant source of limestone mining. However, limestone can be found in some parts of Dorset, particularly in the form of building stone or beach pebbles along the Jurassic Coast. The main source of limestone in the UK is typically in regions like Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire.