Continental carbonates provide economic resources to a diverse set of industries, including
the energy, chemical, construction and tourist industries. Many continental rift basins
harbour lacustrine deposits comprising major hydrocarbon provinces, including those of
Southeast Asia, West Africa and South America. In Southeast Asia, several hydrocarbon
reservoirs have been recognized as “giant oil fields”. Lacustrine basins are the source of
significant quantities of coal in areas in Greece and Turkey, and calcretes have recently …

Carbonate rocks crop out over approximately 10% of all continental areas and occur
extensively in the subsurface (Flügel, 2004). They occur all around the world within a wide
range of depositional environments. Nonmarine carbonates form in both subaqueous and
subaerial settings. The economic usefulness of continental carbonates is determined by
their physical properties (porosity, permeability, compressive strength and resistance to
abrasion) and chemical composition (Ca, Mg, Na, Au, U, Al and hydrocarbons). In this …