Geology of Christmas Island (original) (raw)

The geology of Christmas Island includes interbedded sequences of carbonates and volcanic rocks formed during the Eocene and Miocene. Reef-wall and lagoonal origin dolomite and limestone are particularly common, along with phosphates such as crandallite, , formed from laterite weathering and apatite and formed through chemical replacement. Most volcanic rocks are basic and include andesite and limburgite.