The Dolomites:
The areas:
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The DolomitesThe name "Dolomites" The term Dolomites, which were called “Pale Mountains” up to the beginning of the 20th Century, originates from their geological composition with a major content of Dolomite rock. This rock is a sediment, which consists primarily of the Dolomite mineral and was named after the French mineralogist Dieudonnè Sylvain Guy Tancrede de Gratet de Dolomieu (1750 – 1801). Dolmieu collected stone samples in the areas between Trento and Bolzano. These samples were similar to limestone, but did not show any reaction when immersed into hydrochloric acid. These samples were further analyzed by Nicolas Theodore de Saussure, a friend of Dolmieu. He confirmed that this was no calcium carbonate, but a double calcium-magnesium carbonate, which was an unknown mineral up to then. It was Saussure’s suggestion to name this new mineral “Dolomite”, after his friend and mineralogist. This name was then given to the entire renowned alpine region.
The Coral MountainsIt is hard to believe, that many of the Dolomite’s mountains once were islands in a sea, surrounded by coral-reefs, which were full of tropical life; similar to the "Coral Gardens" of the Maldives or the numerous islands in Polynesia and Melanesia. Nevertheless, coral-reefs and the surrounding water landscape were a large part of the Cattinaggio, the Sciliar, the Latemar, the Marmolada, the Sella, the Pale di San Martino, the Geisler peaks, the Langkofel and of many more parts of the Dolomites. The composition of the Dolomite layers attests, together with numerous paleontological findings, that these mountains originated near coral-reefs. Even horizontal layers of lagoons and diagonal depositions on the steep walls can be seen.
Geology of the Dolomites The Dolomite region is like a laboratory under blue skies for geologists. Here they find nearly all types of rocks, which are present on the earth’s surface. There are sedimentary, magmatic and metamorphic rocks. The sedimentary rock was created from the deposition of minerals from various origins in different situations, which developed from complex, physical and chemical processes into connected rocks. The Magma rock developed on the earth’s surface from the cooling down process and the crystallisation of magmatic material, thus volcano rock like porphyry or, deeper, the plutonian rock like granite. Metamorphic rock consists of sedimentary rock or magma rocks, which have moreor less underwent great changes as a result of changes in temperature or pressure.
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