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Limestone Gallery

By , About.com Guide

Limestone is very common in settings where wide, warm shallow seas once lay. It's generally made of microscopic particles of calcite, either the skeletons of tiny plankton or round grains called ooids, formed as calcite precipitates directly from seawater onto a seed particle as it does in the Bahamas today and other tropical sea islands. Here is a little of its variety, including its close cousin dolomite rock.

Images 1-12 of 16

Fresh roadside standLimestone RoadcutSplintered and sunlitLimestone in a Fresh Exposure, New YorkOnce productive quarry Limestone in a Quarry, CaliforniaHoyt Limestone type sectionLimestone Exposure, New York
A weathered faceWeathered Limestone, New YorkOld but still hardDolomite Rock, WyomingA fresh blockBlock of Hoyt LimestoneA stony collectibleHand Specimen, Hoyt Limestone
Turning chalkyWeathered Limestone Near Kingston, New YorkMassive pink dolostoneDolostone, WyomingShiny happy crystalsCalcite Crystals in Limestone, New YorkPrecrushed limestoneBrecciated Limestone, California

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