List of types of limestone

Limestone deposits listed by location
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (January 2014)
Portland Admiralty Roach from a quarry face on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England.

This is a list of types of limestone arranged according to location. It includes both formal stratigraphic unit names and less formal designations.


Africa

Egypt

  • Tura limestone, used for the Great Pyramid casing stones
  • Mokattam limestone; Great Pyramid core stones and head of the Great Sphinx are of the "Member III" stratum
  • Galala marble (a type of limestone, not a true marble)

Asia

Meleke in the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) near Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel.

India

  • Kota stone – Type of limestone from Rajasthan, India
  • Nimbahera stone – Type of stone

Israel (West Bank)

  • Meleke – limestonePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallbackPages displaying short descriptions with no spaces
  • Jerusalem stone – building stone common in and around JerusalemPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback

Europe

Portland Stone quarry on the Isle of Portland, Dorset.
Transgression of the Paleogene sediments over the Wetterstein Limestone of the Silicic Superunit, Western Carpathians, Slovakia.
Gibraltar limestone: North face of Rock of Gibraltar.

Austria

  • Wetterstein limestone – Regional geologic formation in the Northern Limestone Alps and Western CarpathiansPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

Belgium

Croatia

France

  • Caen Stone – Limestone quarried near Caen, France
  • Lutetian limestone – Type of limestone from Paris, or "Paris stone" (city buildings are widely faced with it)
    • Saint-Maximin – commune in Oise, FrancePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback, or Oise, limestone (variety of Lutetian)
  • Pierre de Jaumont
  • Tuffeau stone – limestone rock mined in FrancePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback, in the Loire Valley

Germany

  • Solnhofen limestone – Geological formation preserving rare fossils in Germany
  • Wetterstein limestone – Regional geologic formation in the Northern Limestone Alps and Western CarpathiansPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

Gibraltar

Ireland

  • Kilkenny marble, not a "true marble"; fossiliferous Carboniferous limestone.

Italy

United Kingdom

England:

Scotland:

Wales:

North America

Quarried block of pink Tennessee "marble"
Blue Rock, a Tonoloway Limestone "fin", in West Virginia, USA.

United States

Canada

  • Eramosa marble – Stratigraphic unit of the Lockport FormationPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets (not a "true marble"; bituminous dolomite)
  • Ostracod Beds – Stratigraphic Group in Western CanadaPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets (also known as the "Ostracod Limestone")
  • Tyndall stone – Trademark of limestone from Canada

Oceania

Australia

  • Tamala Limestone – Unconsolidated to strongly lithified calcarenite with calcrete/kankar soils; aeolian. Locally quartzose, feldspathic, or heavy-mineral-bearing. Located in Western AustraliaPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback

New Zealand

  • Oamaru stone — Hard, compact bryozoan limestone. Granular and creamy white, it usually contains traces of alumina, iron oxide, and silica.

Generic limestone categories

Coquina from Florida.

This section is a list of generic types of limestone

  • Bituminous limestone
  • Carboniferous Limestone – Limestone deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period
  • Coquina – Sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of fragments of shells
  • Coral rag – Limestone composed of ancient coral reef material
  • Chalk – Soft, white, porous sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate
  • Fossiliferous limestone – Limestone containing fossils
  • Lithographic limestone – Type of limestone with hard fine grain
  • Oolite – Sedimentary rock formed from ooids
  • Rag-stone – Work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces
  • Shelly limestone – Limestone containing many fossils
  • Travertine – Form of limestone deposited by mineral springs
  • Tufa – Porous limestone rock formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of ambient temperature water

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Limestone.

External links

  • Pivko, D. (2003) Natural stones in Earth’s history. Acta Geologica Universitatis Comenianae. vol. 58, pp. 73–86.