Calcite (Inventory)/Calcite Coating
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The Calcite Coating inventory field should be used to list stations where a coating of calcite is found.
A calcite coating is a thin layer or layers of calcite usually over bedrock or breakdown. It is much thinner than a calcite crust and more tightly adhered to the underlying structure.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between a calcite coating, an aragonite coating, a gypsum coating, and even moonmilk. The distinctions between a calcite coating and a calcite crust may also be subtle.
Calcite tends to have square-ish crystals. Gypsum sometimes makes starbursts. Aragonite and moonmilk are both bright white. Aragonite coatings are not an inventory item on the CCNP Cave Inventory Form and should be inventoried as a calcite coating, so there is no need to distinguish between these two. Calcite coatings can have a wide variety of colors. Calcite coatings can also be entirely clear. Coatings may build up in layers, coating upon coating, to form thicker coatings.
Sometimes it is difficult to positively differentiate between different coatings in the field without destructive testing.
See also
References
- Hill, Carol; Paolo Forti (1997) Cave Minerals of the World (Second Edition ed.) National Speleological Society pp 55-56, 145 ISBN: 1-879961-07-5
