page_title: Lithographic limestone
section_title: Origin
hierarchical_section_title: Lithographic limestone / Origin
caption_attribution_description: English: Lithographic limestone in the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) near Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel; one variety of Jerusalem stone (meleke).
context_page_description: Lithographic limestone is hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect free to be used for lithography.
  Geologists use the term lithographic texture to refer to a grain size under 1/250 mm.
  The term sublithographic is sometimes used for homogeneous fine-grained limestone with a somewhat coarser texture.
context_section_description: The generally accepted theory for the origin of lithographic and sublithographic limestones is that they were formed in shallow stagnant hypersaline and anoxic lagoons.  The combination of mild hypersalinity and low oxygen content is believed to have inhibited the formation of microbial mats and prevented the invasion of bottom dwelling organisms.  Microbial mats and bottom dwelling organisms would have left fossils, and bottom dwelling organisms would have churned the accumulating sediment, producing a less homogeneous rock.  Stagnancy was required to avoid churning or sculpting of the sediment by currents or wave action.
caption: Meleke in the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) near Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel; a type of lithographic limestone.
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