What is Limestone

Below is a transcription of the above sign found at the Valley of Fire Visitor Center.

Limestone is generally gray, white, or cream-colored.

Lime, dissolved in seawater, is extracted by corals and other marine animals to make their shells.

When these creatures die, their skeletons sink to the seafloor.

Over millions of years, the skeletal fragments were compacted by the weight of overlying deposits and cemented together by minerals to form limestone.

Evaporation of seawater also creates limestone.

The limy deposit left behind when the water disappears eventually hardens into a fine-grained limestone.

These limestone formations are found at the west entrance of the park.

This old seabed has ended into these odd features called “hoodoos.”

Limestone is very useful as a building stone and is processed into lime for building and agricultural uses.

It contains many fossils studied by scientists to discover the nature of the earth millions of years ago.

Category: Sedimentary

Time Period: Paleozoic Era

Composition: Primarily calcium carbonate

Location: West entrance to Valley of Fire: Muddy Mountains