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TRAVERTINE AND GEYSERITE

Travertine
Underlying bedrock: Limestone (sedimentary)
Composition: Calcium carbonate
How is it deposited? Warm, carbon dioxide-rich waters dissolve calcium carbonate from the underlying bedrock. The calcium carbonate precipitates out of solution when the carbon dioxide is released.
Usual rate of deposition: Rapid

Geyserite
Underlying bedrock: Rhyolite (volcanic)
Composition: Silica
How is it deposited? Superheated water dissolves silica from the underlying bedrock. Geyser water splashes onto the ground, forming hard, translucent, bulbous, or spiny shapes called geyserite.
Usual rate of deposition: very slowly—perhaps only an inch or two in a hundred years.

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