List of types of limestone
![]() |

This article lists types of limestone arranged according to generic type and location.
Generic limestone categories
[edit]
This section is a list of generic types of limestone.
- Bituminous limestone
- Carboniferous Limestone – Limestone deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period
- Coquina – Sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of fragments of shells
- Coral rag – Limestone composed of ancient coral reef material
- Chalk – Soft carbonate rock
- Fossiliferous limestone – Limestone containing fossils
- Lithographic limestone – Type of limestone with hard fine grain
- Marble – Metamorphic limestone
- Oolite – Sedimentary rock formed from ooids
- Rag-stone – Work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces
- Shelly limestone – Limestone containing many fossils
- Travertine – Form of limestone deposited by mineral springs
- Tufa – Porous variety of limestone rock
The following sections include both formal stratigraphic unit names and less formal designations, although are these are not differentiated.
Africa
[edit]Egypt
[edit]- Tura limestone, used for the Great Pyramid casing stones
- Mokattam limestone; Great Pyramid core stones and head of the Great Sphinx are of the "Member III" stratum
- Galala marble (a type of limestone, not a true marble)
Asia
[edit]India
[edit]- Kota stone – Type of limestone from Rajasthan, India
- Nimbahera stone
Israel (West Bank)
[edit]- Meleke – Type of Limestone
- Jerusalem stone – Type of pale building stone
Europe
[edit]


Austria
[edit]- Wetterstein limestone – Regional geologic formation in the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians
Belgium
[edit]- Belgian marble, (not a "true marble"; Devonian limestone)
- Noir Belge
- Rouge Belge
Croatia
[edit]- Istrian stone – Type of limestone
France
[edit]- Caen Stone – Limestone quarried near Caen, France
- Lutetian limestone – Type of limestone from Paris, or "Paris stone" (city buildings are widely faced with it)
- Saint-Maximin, or Oise, limestone (variety of Lutetian)
- Pierre de Jaumont
- Tuffeau stone – Limestone rock mined in France, in the Loire Valley
Germany
[edit]- Solnhofen limestone – Geological formation preserving rare fossils in Germany
- Wetterstein limestone – Regional geologic formation in the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians
Gibraltar
[edit]- Gibraltar Limestone – Geologic formation in Gibraltar
Ireland
[edit]- Kilkenny marble – Carboniferous limestone found in County Kilkenny, Ireland , not a "true marble"; fossiliferous Carboniferous limestone.
Italy
[edit]- Red Verona marble – Variety of limestone from Italy, not a "true marble"; fossiliferous limestone
United Kingdom
[edit]England:
- Ashford Black Marble – Very fine-grained sedimentary rock (not a "true marble"; Carboniferous limestone)
- Bath stone – Oolitic limestone from Somerset used as a building material
- Beer Stone – Man-made caves in Devon, England
- Clipsham stone – Village in Rutland, England , the famous London Stone is made of this.
- Collyweston stone slate – Traditional limestone roofing material of central England (not a "true slate"; thin-bedded limestone)
- Cotham Marble – Limestone variety from Great Britain (not a "true marble"; stromatolitic limestone)
- Cotswold stone – oolitic limestone used for building and roofing in the Cotswolds
- Dent Marble (not a "true marble"; Crinoidal limestone)
- Frosterley Marble – northern England (not a "true marble")
- Hamstone – Building stone from Somerset
- Headington stone – A limestone from Oxford
- Hopton Wood stone – Type of limestone
- Kentish ragstone, also known as Kentish rag – Hard grey limestone in Kent, England
- Ketton stone
- Pembroke Limestone Group
- Portland stone – Limestone quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England
- Portland Admiralty Roach – Rock type
- Bowers Basebed
- Portland Bowers Roach
- Portland Grove Whitbed
- Portland Jordans Roach – Stone variety from the Isle of Portland
- Purbeck stone – Limestone from Dorset
- Purbeck Marble – Fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England (not a "true marble"; fossiliferous limestone)
- Sussex Marble (not a "true marble"; fossiliferous freshwater limestone)
Scotland:
- Charlestown limestone – Limestone quarrying in Charlestown, Fife, Scotland
Wales:
- Cymerig Limestone – Geologic formation in Wales
North America
[edit]
United States
[edit]- Anamosa Limestone
- Bear Gulch Limestone – Paleontological site in Montana, USA
- Columbus Limestone – Geologic formation in the United States and Canada
- Cottonwood Limestone – Historic stone resource in the Midwestern United States
- Greenbrier Limestone – Lithostratigraphic unit
- Harrodsburg Limestone – Geologic formation in Indiana, United States
- Heceta Limestone – Geologic Formation in Alaska
- Hokie stone – Grey dolomite-limestone rock found near Blacksburg, Virginia
- Indiana Limestone – Limestone quarried in Indiana, United States (Bedford limestone)
- Jeffersonville Limestone – Bedrock unit in Indiana and Kentucky, United States
- Kaibab Limestone – Geologic formation in the southwestern United States
- Kasota limestone – Type of rock in southern Minnesota
- Keyser Limestone
- Keystone
- Madison Limestone – Geologic formation in the western United States
- Michigan limestone
- Onondaga Limestone – Hard limestones rock formation in North America
- St. Genevieve marble – Marble found in Missouri (not a "true marble"; oolitic limestone)
- St. Louis Limestone – Mississippian period geologic formation in the Midwest United States
- Tennessee marble (not a "true marble"; crystalline limestone)
- Tonoloway Limestone – Geologic formation in the United States
Canada
[edit]- Eramosa marble – Stratigraphic unit of the Lockport Formation (not a "true marble"; bituminous dolomite)
- Ostracod Beds – Stratigraphic Group in Western Canada (also known as the "Ostracod Limestone")
- Tyndall stone – Trademark of limestone from Canada
Oceania
[edit]Australia
[edit]- Tamala Limestone – Limestone deposits in Western Australia
New Zealand
[edit]- Oamaru stone – Limestone quarried at New Zealand — Hard, compact bryozoan limestone. Granular and creamy white, it usually contains traces of alumina, iron oxide, and silica.
See also
[edit]Wikimedia Commons has media related to Limestone.
External links
[edit]- Pivko, D. (2003) Natural stones in Earth’s history. Acta Geologica Universitatis Comenianae. vol. 58, pp. 73–86.