A Geoscience Digital Image Library
A Geoscience Digital Image Library
| Title | Travertine, Tivoli, Italy |
|---|---|
| Description | This sample of travertine is about 10 cm across. Most travertine is white or cream colored, but it often contains layers of contrasting texture or color, and so polishes to produce a beautiful building stone. Travertine forms when calcium carbonate precipitates as calcite. It typically occurs in areas where circulating ground water passes through limestone and becomes saturated in calcium carbonate. Travertine often forms around the mouths of hot springs and in streams. The word travertine comes from an old Roman name for Tivoli, a town in Italy where large deposits of travertine occur. Travertine quarries at Tivoli provide much building stone for early rome, 20 miles away. In the United States, travertine forms around the Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. |
| Location | Italy. Near Tivoli. |
| Photographer | Nessa Eull. 2001-05-21. |
| Collection | Ward’s University Rock Collection #156. |
| Key words | travertine, Tivoli, Italy, calcite |
| Tech details | 1.01 MB. Hand specimen. Fujifilm FinePix S1Pro digital camera; 60mm AF Nikon micro lens. |
| GeoDIL number | 489 |
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