ABSTRACT
Of all the components of limestones it is the great diversity of bioclasts which the student of carbonate sedimentology is likely to find most daunting. Not only can there be great variety in one thin section, but the bioclast content of limestones varies with age, such that, for example, a bioclast grainstone of Palaeozoic age, consisting perhaps of crinoid, brachiopod and bryzoan fragments will look very different from one of Tertiary age, dominated by large foraminiferans, coralline algae and mollusc fragments, even though they may have been deposited in similar environments.
