What is the geology of the limestone, shell, and dolomite formations?
For millions of years, the area we now call Florida was covered by oceans. During this time sea creatures such as snails, clams, corals, sea urchins, sand dollars, fish, and others, lived and died. Their remains slowly built up layers of sediment thousands of feet thick. These sediments are the limestone, shell, and dolomite formations that are mined today. Limestone is a sedimentary rock which is more than 50% calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO3) and dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg(CO3)2). It can vary widely in consistency and hardness. In Florida it can be found as a soft chalky material with microfossils, a hard recrystalized mass, a grainy sand-lime mass, or a fossiliferous mass. In some areas of Florida, the limestones have been converted though a chemical process to dolomite. Dolomite is a sedimentary rock containing more than 50% of the minerals calcite and dolomite, with dolomite being the most abundant. Shell formations vary from unconsolidated sand and shell, to loo
