The varieties of limestone are mostly distinguished according to their mode of origin, some of them being as follows.
Bog Lime is a white calcareous powdery deposit on the bottom of ponds in limestone regions, a deposit precipitated from solution by the action of the plants inhabiting the ponds.
Coquina ([Plate 59]) is the rock formed by the rather loose consolidation of shells and shell fragments. It is particularly characteristic of tropical regions, and is very abundant near St. Augustine, Fla., in which region it was, and still is, cut into blocks and used for building stone. In that mild climate it has stood very well.
Chalk ([Plate 60]) is a soft fine-grained limestone, formed in the ocean by the accumulation of myriads of the tiny shells of Foramenifera, which are single celled animals, living either a floating life near the surface of the sea, or a creeping life on the bottom. Chalk is composed mostly of the shells of floating Foramenifera, which when the animals died, settled to the bottom and there accumulated, mostly at depths of 600 feet or more. When the mass of unconsolidated shells is dredged up from depths of 50 to 2000 fathoms, it is known as Foramenifera ooze. Chalk beds are then indications of an uplifted sea bottom. When consolidated, if pure or nearly so, it makes a white chalk, and the beds may be of considerable thickness, as is the case of the famous cliffs near Dover on either side of the English Channel. One of Huxley’s most famous lectures is the one on chalk, found in his Essays and Lay Sermons.
Coral Rock is made by the cementation of fragments of corals. The binding material, as in most stones, is lime; and this sort of rock is associated with coral reefs of either the past or the present. One of the best illustrations of this being the “Dolomite Mountains” in Tyrol. Coral rock, like coquina, has been cut into blocks and used as building stone, as in Bermuda.
Encrinal Limestone ([Plate 60]) is a rock made by the cementation of fragments of the skeleton of crinoids. These animals belong to the group, echinoderms, and are now extinct except for a few so called “sea-lilies.” They were animals with a central mouth surrounded by long, jointed, flexible arms in multiples of five, and below this a small body inclosed in calcareous plates, all at the top of a long jointed stem. They lived in the sea and in the earlier geological times must have been very abundant; for their remains are so common in places as to make whole layers of limestone.
Hydraulic Limestone is a fine-grained, compact, yellowish limestone with from 13 to 17% of sand, and some clay; which, when it is burned at a temperature a little higher than that used in burning lime, makes a product, that, while not as strong as Portland cement, still like it sets under water.
Lithographic Limestone is a very fine-grained, compact limestone with clay impurities, the finest of the grain making it usable for making the stone plates used in lithographic printing. On slabs of this limestone figures are drawn in reverse with a special crayon. Then the slab is treated with acid, those parts which are not protected by the drawing being etched away, while the points protected by the drawing remain in low relief. From this slab figures can then be printed.
Travertine is a general name, applied to calcareous deposits from fresh water lakes or streams, and has been precipitated either as a result of cooling or evaporation. Some travertines are porous, while others are dense; some are white, while others are colored, often beautifully, by impurities in the water.
Porous deposits of travertine, when made on grass or other like substances, are known as tufa or calc sinter. Such masses are common around Caledonia, N. Y., Mammoth Hot Springs in the Yellowstone Park, etc.