Oolite

Oolite (egg stone, from Greek ῷόν oon, "egg" and λίθος lithos, "stone" ) is a sedimentary rock composed of small mineral spheres ( ooids ), which are cemented by a calcareous or clayey binder. The ooids consist primarily of calcium carbonate ( calcite or aragonite: Roe stone, pea stone), iron hydroxide ( Eisenoolith ) or silica ( Kieseloolith, mostly silicified Kalkoolithe ). They generally have a diameter of 0.5 to 2 millimeters.

Ooids occur in warm water kalkübersättigtem heavily agitated. The starting point of Ooidbildung are small particles such as sand grains or fragments of shells, which are held by the wave motion in abeyance and nucleate at which lime is deposited in concentric shells or in the form of radial- fibrous calcite crystals. Are these ooids become too heavy, they sink to the ocean floor and form a sediment layer in which they are rolled by water movement. Oolite formed by the solidification of this layer of sediment to rock ( diagenesis ).

Oolite or Rogenstein is eponymous for different rock formations, such as the Jurassic formations Korallenoolith, Murchisonaeoolith lineup, Hauptrogenstein stone and Braunschweiger Rogenstein.