Dolostone
Rock made of dolomite
Common
A carbonate rock made mostly of the mineral dolomite, told apart from limestone by Déodat de Dolomieu in the late eighteenth century. It weathers a dull yellow brown and is more porous than limestone underground.
Rock
- Kind of rock
- Chemical sedimentary rock
- Rock family
- Limestone and chalk
- Texture
- crystalline, porous
- Also contains
- Calcite
- Deposits
- Skarn
- Metals
- Magnesium
- How it forms
- Magnesium replaces calcium in limestone or lime mud before it hardens (dolomitisation), often beside evaporites.
- Uses
- Most carbonate oil reservoirs; pure white marble can come from it.
Identity
- Also known as
- Dolomite rock
Crystallography
- Habits
- Massive, Granular
Physical properties
- Luster
- Dull
- Colors
- white, gray, yellow-brown
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Sedimentary
- Geography
- worldwide
Classification
- Rarity
- Common
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- Dolomite (rock). Wikipedia.
- Marble. Wikipedia.
- C. R. Hallsworth, R. W. O’B. Knox, BGS Rock Classification Scheme, Volume 3: Classification of sediments and sedimentary rocks (Research Report RR 99-03). British Geological Survey, 1999.
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