Indiana Caverns the calcium carbonate precipitates out of the water. The calcium carbonate, in the form of the mineral calcite, a solid, crystallizes onto the bottoms and sides of existing stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, and sheets of flowstone to grow the formations over time. Other minerals are brought into the cave by flowing of water to create white, red, tan, and gray colors on the formations and walls. St. Louis Limestone is primarily made of calcite, but is also known to contain magnesium sulfate, manganese dioxide, ferric oxide, gypsum, dolomite, and aragonite. On the show tour, deposits of calcite, manganese dioxide, and ferric
Carbonate compensation depth oceans' elevated temperatures during this period. In the late Eocene the transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse Earth coincided with a deepened CCD. Today, increasing atmospheric concentration of from combustion of fossil fuels may lead to shallower CCD, with zones of downwelling first being affected. John Murray investigated and experimented on the dissolution of calcium carbonate and was first to identify the carbonate compensation depth in oceans. Carbonate compensation depth Calcite compensation depth (CCD) is the depth in the oceans below which the rate of supply of calcite (calcium carbonate) lags behind the rate of solvation, such that no