Abstract
Most carbonate rocks contain magnesium carbonate in addition to calcium carbonate, and analyses show every gradation in composition from almost pure calcium carbonate rocks to those with more than 50% of magnesium carbonate. The nature of the magnesium-bearing minerals, and their distribution within the rock, varies to some extent in different types of magnesian deposits. In thse types with approximately equal proportions of magnesium and calcium, the double carbonate, dolomite, CaCO3.MgCO3, accounts for most of the magnesium present. The rest is often in the form of an independent mineral, magnesite (MgCO3).
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© 1989 J. T. Greensmith
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Greensmith, J.T. (1989). Magnesian limestones and dolomites. In: Petrology of the Sedimentary Rocks. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9640-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9640-6_8
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