The dolomite problem has confused scientists for nearly two centuries because the classic saturation index cannot explain the failure of dolomite precipitation in carbonate solutions including 1000-fold super saturation for 32 years and oversaturation of modern seawater for millions of years. Although the dolomite problem is still controversial, the chemistry of a global set of surface water samples reported in dolomitization (N = 54) and dedolomitization (N = 433) is indispensable, and firstly summarized to explore the mechanism of dolomite inorganic precipitation. This study indicates that: (1) saturation index of dolomite in the surface water of dolomitization is closing to dedolomitization, suggesting the failure of SI to reflect the real precipitation driving force of dolomite; (2) the primary difference is that most of water in dedolomitization has negative SI of gypsum, while most of water in dolomitization has positive SI of gypsum; (3) the inherent stoichiometry competition relationship between calcite and dolomite is proposed to explain the incompleteness of classic saturation index model in predicting inorganic dolomitization; (4) A multi-component calcite - dolomite - gypsum phase equilibrium (CDGPE) model is recommended to replace SI in predicting the dolomitization and dedolomitization of a global set of surface waters; (5) CDGPE model is proved reliable and useful in predicting the surface water reported in dolomitization and dedolomitization (including the modern seawater); (6) the evaporation modelling of the modern seawater through the stepwise detraction of water shows that the surface waters (Persian Gulf, Mediterranean, Abu Dhabi, Coorong Region at Southern Australia, and LagoaVermelha at Brazil) observed with abundant dolomitization are all located at the different evaporation paths of modern seawater, suggesting that the dolomitization at these seawater are resulted by the evaporation, which is consistent with the recent finding that the dolomitization event at the oceanic chemocline occurred during the Permian-Triassic transition period when the temperature was hot on the earth surface.

白云岩问题困扰了科学家近两个世纪，因为经典的饱和指数无法解释碳酸盐溶液中白云岩沉淀的失败，包括 32 年的 1000 倍过饱和和数百万年的现代海水过饱和。尽管白云岩问题仍然存在争议，但在白云石化 ( N  = 54) 和去云石化 ( N = 433) 是必不可少的，首先总结探讨白云岩无机沉淀的机理。本研究表明：（1）白云石化地表水中白云岩饱和度指数接近于白云石化，表明SI未能反映白云岩的真实降水驱动力；(2)主要区别是脱云石化中大部分水的石膏SI为负，而白云石化中大部分水的石膏SI为正；(3) 提出方解石和白云石之间固有的化学计量竞争关系来解释经典饱和指数模型在预测无机白云石化方面的不完备性；(4) 推荐使用多组分方解石-白云石-石膏相平衡(CDGPE)模型代替SI预测全球地表水的白云石化和去云石化；（5）CDGPE模型在预测白云石化和去云石化报告的地表水（包括现代海水）方面是可靠和有用的；(6) 通过逐步减水对现代海水的蒸发模拟表明，观测到的具有丰富白云石化作用的地​​表水（波斯湾、地中海、阿布扎比、澳大利亚南部的 Coorong 地区和巴西的 LagoaVermelha）均位于现代海水蒸发路径不同，说明这些海水的白云石化是蒸发作用造成的，