Nine previously collected cores from the national lacustrine core repository were obtained. Some sections of these cores show a unique pattern of light and dark banding on a centi- to decimeter scale. These bands have been nicknamed "coontail bands". Although the visual difference between the bands is great, the exact compositional difference has never been studied. In particular, the origin of the calcite that that causes the light bands was researched. L*a*b* color analysis was preformed on high-resolution images of the core sections and compared to coulometry, SEM, smear slides, and XRF results. The results show that the proportion of calcite in the cores is a result of precipitation and dissolution of calcite from the water column, as opposed to being input terrestrially. This means that the banding pattern is a result of changes within the lacustrine system. Further research into the correlation between actual climate events and coontail banding is important in discovering the origin of the bands. The results also show that L*a*b* color analysis is an easy and fast way to obtain high-resolution preliminary information about the composition of core samples.