The Dinantian West Lothian Oil-Shale Formation of the Midland Valley, Scotland, is a laterally variable lacustrine sequence, deposited in an overall humid climatic period. The sequence comprises non-marine limestones, dolostones, oil-shales, mudrocks and deltaic sandstones. Thin marine bands and the thick freshwater Burdiehouse Limestone are the most reliable stratigraphic markers. Eight individual outcrops of microbial carbonatesa, ll stratigraphically close to the Burdiehouse Limestone, are correlatable, and therefore important in helping to clarify the Asbian stratigraphy of the eastern Midland Valley of Scotland. The microbial carbonates were deposited in varied shallow lake settings. Lake waters had a long residence time, suggested by fairly positive stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. Petrography and geochemistry suggest the primary carbonate was high-Mg calcite. Isotopic variations are mainly controlled by depositional water depth, diagenetic fluid temperaturesl,o calised magmatica ctivity and in-situ organicm atterd ecay. A regional dolornitisation event affected the lithologies, with high Fe" and Mg2+ concentrations suggesting early diagenetic dolomitisation under phreatic conditions. High Sr dolomite suggestst hat the lake and / or regional groundwaters were Sr enriched. Both the Sr ions and the Mg ions for dolomitisation were probably derived from chemically-enriched, seaward flowing groundwaters, that originated on a westerly situated volcanic plateau. The microbial carbonates represent regional and localised regressive sequences, lake, and in volcanically-isolated depositional sub-basins. The carbonates probably correspond to a regionally-significant period of aridity within the Asbian of south-east Scotland, similar to fluctuating seasonal semi-arid and humid conditions identified in the Dinantian of England and Wales.