LIMESTONEGlossary by 2nd Year students

Newlands 2009

GRYKESGrykes: Joints which reach the surface along the limestone pavement and they are widened and deepened by solution to form grooves.They are widened and deepended by solution to form grooves.

PERMEABILITYPermeability is rate at which water can either be stored in a rock or is able to pass thought it.

CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONECarboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian stage of the carboniferous poderi. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago.

CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONECarboniferous limestone is a sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate. It is generally light-grey in colour, and is hard. It was formed in warm, shallow tropical seas teeming with life

KARST

An area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns.

It is known to form a highlight caused by chemical weathering of certain rocks (like limestone, dolomite, aljez, etc.).

CALCIUM CARBONATECalcium carbonate is a chemical compound. It is a common substance found in rocks.A colorless or white crystalline compound, occurring naturally as chalk, limestone, marble, and other forms and used in a wide variety of manufactured products including commercial chalk, medicines, and dentifrices.

STALACTITEStalactite is a type of secondary mineral that hangs from the ceiling or wall of limestone caves, it is a type of dripstone.An icicle-shaped mineral deposit, usually calcite or aragonite, hanging from the roof of a cavern, formed from the dripping of mineral-rich water.

STALAGMITEStalagmite is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate.

PILLARSPillars are the result of stalactites and stalagmites joined together

CARBONIC ACIDCarbonic Acid is a molecule found in rainwater that dissolves the rock.A weak, unstable acid, present in solutions of carbon dioxide in water. It reacts with Calcium

CHEMICAL WEATHERINGIt is the decomposition of rocks caused by a chemical change within the rock.The chemical process by which rocks exposed to the weather undergo changes in character and break down. The rocks decompose by a chemical change within the rocks

LIMESTONEIt is a type of rock that forms from remains of shells and skeletons of small marine organisms.

SWALLOW HOLESThey are holes in the earth that are formed when various acids in the water begin to dissolve and widen surface joints.

Karst topographyKarst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite.

DRY VALLEYThe evidence that rivers once flowed on top of limestone. Are usually very steepsided.

UNDERGROUND LANDFORMS

RESURGENCEShould the river meet an underlying impermeable rock, it will have to flow over this rock until it reaches the surfacee as a spring or resurgence.

DEPOSITION OF LANDFORMS