Magnesian Limestone

The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period.

The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between Hartlepool and South Shields.

[1] The term has now been discontinued in formal use though it appears widely in popular and scientific literature on the geology of northern England.

Much of the Magnesian Limestone is dolomite, i.e. calcium magnesium carbonate, and has been for many years the main source of dolomite-rock in Britain.

Many pieces of dolomite were found in the ruins of Rome, though they are thought to have been brought from Magnesia in Greece.