What is limestone used for

Chemical Applications Limestone's chemical properties allow it to bond to several other substances, including sulfur dioxide and silica. About the Business. Building Materials Supplier. Have a question? Ask the experts! Send your question.

See accompanying photo or read an entire article about coquina here. Crystalline Limestone: A specimen of limestone that has been subjected to metamorphism. Some might call this material "crystalline limestone" - however, the proper name is marble.

If you view this rock closely by eye, or better, with a hand lens, you will clearly see cleavage faces of calcite intersecting at rhombic angles.

The rock shown here is about four inches ten centimeters across. When limestone is subjected to heat, pressure, and chemical activity, the calcite in the rock begins to transform. This is the beginning of the process known as metamorphism. Starting at a microscopic scale, the calcium carbonate in the rock begins to crystallize or recrystallize into fine-grained calcite crystals. As the duration and intensity of metamorphism continues, the calcite crystals increase in size.

When the calcite crystals are large enough to be visible to the eye, the rock can then be recognized as marble - a metamorphic rock. Marble is the name of the metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism. It is composed of calcium carbonate CaCO 3 and usually contains other minerals that might include clay minerals, micas, quartz, pyrite, iron oxide, and graphite.

At this location, and many other locations, the Kaibab Limestone is fossiliferous and dolomitic. Photograph by the United States Geological Survey. Dolomitic limestone is a rock composed mainly of calcite, but some of that calcite has been altered to dolomite. Dolomite is thought to form when the calcite CaCO 3 in carbonate sediments or in limestone is modified by magnesium-rich groundwater. The available magnesium facilitates the conversion of calcite into dolomite CaMg CO 3 2.

This chemical change is known as "dolomitization. Dolomitization can completely alter a limestone into a dolomite, or it can partially alter the rock to form a "dolomitic limestone.

Fossiliferous Limestone: Ammonite fossils found in limestone quarry in Germany. Ammonite fossils are abundant in the area around Nuremberg and Stuttgart. Fossiliferous limestone is a limestone that contains obvious and abundant fossils. They are usually marine invertebrates such as brachiopods, crinoids, mollusks, gastropods, and coral. These are the normal shell and skeletal fossils found in many types of limestone. Fossiliferous limestone often contains information about the environment of deposition, and where the organisms lived or were deposited.

Paleontologists can often examine the fossils and determine the geologic age of the rock. Lithographic Limestone: In , workers at NOAA's printing shop ink a slab of lithographic limestone that contains an image of a nautical chart. In , NOAA produced approximately , lithographic prints using this method.

A crop from an image in the NOAA archive. Lithographic limestone is a dense rock with a very fine and very uniform grain size. It occurs in thin beds which separate easily to form a very smooth surface. In the late s, a printing process known as lithography named after the stones used was developed to reproduce images by drawing them on the stone with an oil-based ink, then using that stone to press multiple copies of the image.

Lithographic printing developed into an art form that produced many of the finest maps, navigational charts, posters, and bookplates of the 18th and 19th century. Printing with large stones weighing hundreds of pounds to over one ton was cumbersome work. Eventually lithographic printing was done using high-speed presses in which the image was inked on metal rollers and transferred onto sheets or rolls of paper as they streamed through the press. Oolitic Limestone: A specimen of limestone composed almost entirely of oolites.

Photograph by James St. John, displayed here under a Creative Commons attribution license. Oolites or ooliths are small, sand-size clasts of calcium carbonate with a spherical to ovate shape. They form by the concentric accumulation of calcium carbonate layers around a nucleus that might be a sand grain, a shell fragment, a coral fragment, or a particle of fecal debris. They are thought to form by inorganic precipitation of material around a nucleus while the clast is transported in wave-agitated waters or rolling across sediment surfaces.

In some parts of the Bahamas Platform, oolites are one of the most abundant clasts found in the sediment. In areas where currents from deep water ascend onto the platform, broad areas are covered by great thicknesses of sediment that is almost entirely oolitic. Oolitic limestone is found in many parts of the world. Petroleum reservoirs — Its geological formations are among the best petroleum reservoirs.

In pollution control — It reacts with sulfur dioxide so used in air pollution control as a reagent in flue — gas desulfurization. In Glass making — Limestone is used in glass making. As a source of calcium — It is used as a source of calcium and its purified form is added in breads and cereals.

In mining — It is used in the mining process as it can suppress methane explosions. To increase alkalinity of water — It is used to increase alkalinity of water to prevent pipe corrosion. In medicines — Calcium carbonate is used as gastric antacid.

It is also used as a phosphate binder for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia. It is also used as an inert filler for tablets. In cosmetics — In many cosmetics products also it is used as filler. In sculptures — It easily mixes with clay and due its white color, it is used in making sculptures.

It gives them a bright white color as well. Great Pyramid of Giza — Great pyramid of Giza is one of the seven wonders of the world. Its outside covering is entirely made up of limestone. As raw material for synthesis — It is used as raw material for synthesis of many chemicals such as slaked lime, quicklime and mortar etc. Concrete is made by mixing cement with sand, water and aggregate crushed rock.

It is a major ingredient in toothpaste. It can be used as a food additive to provide calcium ions for strong teeth and bones. It can be processed as a useful raw material in the chemical industry. It can be used to neutralise acidic soil to allow plants to grow more effectively.