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I think you have it confused, dolomite and limestones are not the same thing:

Limestone is composed of calcite or calcium carbonate, CaCO3, and dolostone is composed of dolomite or calcium magnesium carbonate, Ca,Mg(CO3).

Okla gave the chemical formula for ankerite, which is in the dolomite group.

In the field dolostone and limestone are difficult to tell apart (but there crystals are fairly diagnostic)...one way is to drop some HCl on them. Limestone will fizz (effervesce) and dolostone will not...UNLESS it is powdered...then it will fizz.

Source(s):

Manual of Mineralogy (after J.D. Dana), 19th ed., 1977, Hurlbut and Klein.Now it can happen and find them both combined in what it's called Dolomitic limestone, which is more or less 50/50 mixture of calcite and dolomite minerals.

as for carboniferous limestone, limestone is a very abundant formation, it's not exclusive to one era or one location and it can be very variant from one place to another, you have to be more specific about where this carboniferous limestone is located!

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12y ago

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