Quarry

A quarry is a place where rock and earth materials—like limestone, granite, marble, sand, and gravel—are excavated. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safety risks and reduce their environmental impact.[1][2]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Stone industry
* 3 Types of rock
* 4 Methods of quarrying
* 5 Slabs
* 6 Problems
* 6.1 Quarry lakes
* 7 See also
* 8 References
* 9 External links

## History

Stone industry is one of the oldest in the world. Creation of stone tools (microliths industry) in the region of South Africa has been dated to about 60,000–70,000 years ago.[3] Granite and marble mining has existed as far back as ancient Egypt.[4] Crushed stone was used extensively by the first great road building civilizations, such as ancient Greece and ancient Rome.[5]

In the eighteenth century, the use of drilling and blasting operations was mastered.[6]

## Stone industry

Stone industry refers to the part of the primary sector of the economy, similar to the mining industry, but concerned with excavations of stones, in particular granite, marble, slate and sandstone. Other products of the industry include crushed stone and dimension stone.

## Types of rock

Types of rock extracted from quarries include:

* Chalk
* Chert
* China clay
* Cinder
* Clay
* Coal
* Construction aggregate (sand and gravel)
* Coquina
* Diabase
* Flint
* Gabbro
* Granite
* Gritstone
* Gypsum
* Limestone
* Marble
* Ores
* Phosphate rock
* Quartz
* Sandstone
* Slate
* Travertine

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## Methods of quarrying

The method of removal of stones from their natural bed by using different operations is called quarrying. Methods of quarrying include:

* Digging – This method is used when the quarry consists of small and soft pieces of stones.
* Heating – This method is used when the natural rock bed is horizontal and small in thickness.
* Wedging – This method is used when the hard rock consists of natural fissure. When natural fissures are absent then artificial fissures are prepared by drilling holes.
* Blasting – It is the process of removing stone using controlled explosives placed in drilled holes. Line of least resistance plays a very important role in the blasting process.

The following steps are used in the blasting process:

* Drilling holes – Blast holes are drilled by using drilling machines.
* Charging – Explosive powders are fed into the cleaned & dried blast holes.
* Tamping – The remaining portion of the blast holes are filled by clay, ash, fuse and wirings.
* Firing – The fuses of blasting holes are fired by using electrical power supply or match sticks.

## Slabs

Many quarry stones such as marble, granite, limestone, and sandstone are cut into larger slabs and removed from the quarry. The surfaces are polished and finished with varying degrees of sheen or luster. Polished slabs are often cut into tiles or countertops and installed in many kinds of residential and commercial properties. Natural stone quarried from the earth is often considered a luxury and tends to be a highly durable surface, thus highly desirable.

## Problems

Extraction work in a marble quarry in Carrara, Italy

Quarries in level areas that are located in flat terrain or in places where groundwater sits close to the surface often face significant drainage challenges groundwater or which are located close to surface water often have engineering problems with drainage. Generally the water is removed by pumping while the quarry is operational, but for high inflows more complex approaches may be required. For example, the Coquina quarry is excavated to more than 60 feet (18 m) below sea level.

To reduce surface leakage, a moat lined with clay was constructed around the entire quarry. Groundwater entering the pit is pumped up into the moat. As a quarry becomes deeper, water inflows generally increase and it also becomes more expensive to lift the water higher during removal; this can become the limiting factor in quarry depth. Some water-filled quarries are worked from beneath the water, by dredging.

Many people and municipalities consider quarries to be eyesores and require various abatement methods to address problems with noise, dust, and appearance. A well-known effective and famous example of successful quarry restoration is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[7]

A further problem is pollution of roads from trucks leaving the quarries. To control and restrain the pollution of public roads, wheel washing systems are becoming more common.

### Quarry lakes

Main article: Earth:Quarry lake

Many quarries naturally fill with water after abandonment and become lakes. Others are made into landfills.

Water-filled quarries can be very deep, often 50 ft (15 m) or more, and surprisingly cold, so swimming in quarry lakes is generally not recommended. Unexpectedly cold water can cause a swimmer's muscles to suddenly weaken; it can also cause shock and even hypothermia.[8] Though quarry water is often very clear, submerged quarry stones, abandoned equipment, dead animals and strong currents make diving into these quarries extremely dangerous. Several people drown in quarries each year.[9][10] However, many inactive quarries are converted into safe swimming sites.[11][12]

Such lakes, even lakes within active quarries, can provide important habitat for animals.[13]

An abandoned limestone quarry in Rummu, Estonia

## See also

* Automated mining
* Building material
* Clay pit
* Coal mining
* Collecting fossils
* Dry stone
* Fair Stone standard
* Gravel pit
* List of minerals
* List of quarries
* List of quarries in the United States
* List of rock types
* List of stones
* Miner
* Mining
* Mountaintop removal mining
* Opencast mining
* Quarries (biblical)
* Quarry lake

## References

1. ↑ "Quarrying English View" (in en). https://www.epiroc.com/en-us/applications/construction/quarrying-and-surface-construction/quarrying.
2. ↑ US EPA, OW (2014-03-10). "Mineral Mining and Processing Effluent Guidelines" (in en). https://www.epa.gov/eg/mineral-mining-and-processing-effluent-guidelines.
3. ↑ Alfred J. Andrea; Kevin McGeough; William E. Mierse; Mark Aldenderfer; Carolyn Neel (28 February 2011). World History Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-85109-929-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=saMDq9eARUcC&pg=PA145.
4. ↑ Nelson L. Nemerow (27 January 2009). Environmental Engineering: Environmental Health and Safety for Municipal Infrastructure, Land Use and Planning, and Industry. John Wiley & Sons. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-470-08305-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=VO-Unp1sFAMC&pg=PA40.
5. ↑ John J. McKetta Jr (14 November 1995). Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design: Volume 54 – Steam Reforming: Operating Experience to Storage Tank Explosion Safeguards. CRC Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-8247-2605-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=YXsPHcd7tXwC&pg=PA281.
6. ↑ Raymond Perrier: Les roches ornementales. Ternay (Edition Pro Roc) 2004, ISBN 2-9508992-6-9, p. 443–447.
7. ↑ "BCMEMPR, BCMTH, and NRC. (1995). Reclamation and Environmental Protection Handbook for Sand, Gravel and Quarry Operations in British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources Ministry of Transportation and Highways Natural Resources Canada.". https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/transportation-infrastructure/contracting-with-the-province/documents/archive-unoffical-tender-documents-90-days/12626-0002/t3-5-reclamation-and-environmental-protection-handbook-1995.pdf.
8. ↑ "American Canoe Association explanation of cold shock". Enter.net. http://www.enter.net/~skimmer/coldwater.html.
9. ↑ "US Dept. of Labor list of mine related fatalities". Msha.gov. http://www.msha.gov/SOSA/previousfatalstats.asp.
10. ↑ "on quarry drownings". Geology.com. 2007-11-03. http://geology.com/articles/abandoned-mines.shtml.
11. ↑ "Centennial Beach - History". http://www.centennialbeach.org/history.
12. ↑ "City of Coral Gables - Venetian Pool". https://www.coralgables.com/departments/CommunityRecreation/venetian-pool.
13. ↑ Sievers, Michael (19 May 2017). "Sand quarry wetlands provide high-quality habitat for native amphibians". Web Ecology 17 (1): 19–27. doi:10.5194/we-17-19-2017. Bibcode: 2017WEco...17...19S.

S.K Duggal "Building Materials" (2003) 3rd revised edition Quarries

## External links

* The state of the world stone industry, 2004, Stone World
* Stone Industry Statistical Data (US)
* World statistical data

* v
* t
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Mining techniques

Surface|

* Open-pit
* Quarrying
* Strip
* Placer
* Dredging
* Hydraulic mining
* Mountaintop removal

Sub-surface|

| Classes|

* Hard rock
* Soft rock

|

Directions|

* Drift
* Slope
* Shaft
* Bell pit
* Borehole

Stoping|

* Room and pillar
* Longwall
* Retreat

* v
* t
* e

Stonemasonry

Types|

* Ashlar
* Rustication
* Carving
* Dry stone
* Letter cutting
* Masonry
* Monumental
* Rubble
* Sculpture
* Slipform
* Snecked

Materials|

* List of stone
* Artificial stone
* Brick
* Cast stone
* Decorative stones
* Dimension stone
* Fieldstone
* Flagstone
* Gabion
* Granite
* Grout
* Marble
* Mortar
* Sandstone
* Slate

Tools|

* Angle grinder
* Bush hammer
* Ceramic tile cutter
* Chisel
* Diamond blade
* Lewis (lifting appliance)
* Non-explosive demolition agents
* Plug and feather
* Stonemason's hammer
* Straightedge

Techniques|

* Brickwork
* Flaming
* Flushwork
* Knapping
* Polygonal masonry
* Repointing
* Scabbling
* Tuckpointing

Products|

* Castle
* Hardstone carving
* Headstone (Footstone)
* Mosaic
* Sculpture
* Stone wall
* Machicolation

Organizations|

* International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
* Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland
* Mason Contractors Association of America
* Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association
* Worshipful Company of Masons

* v
* t
* e

Human impact on the environment

General|

* Environmental issues
* list of issues
* Human impact
* Impact assessment
* Planetary boundaries

Causes|

* Agriculture
* irrigation
* meat production
* cocoa production
* palm oil
* Energy industry
* biofuels
* biodiesel
* coal
* nuclear power
* oil shale
* petroleum
* reservoirs
* Genetic pollution
* Industrialisation
* Land use
* Manufacturing
* cleaning agents
* concrete
* plastics
* nanotechnology
* paint
* paper
* pesticides
* pharmaceuticals and personal care
* Marine life
* fishing
* fishing down the food web
* marine pollution
* overfishing
* Mining
* Overdrafting
* Overexploitation
* Overgrazing
* Overpopulation
* Particulates
* Pollution
* Quarrying
* Reservoirs
* Tourism
* Transport
* aviation
* roads
* shipping
* Urbanization
* urban sprawl
* War

Effects|

* Biodiversity threats
* biodiversity loss
* decline in amphibian populations
* decline in insect populations
* Climate change
* global warming
* runaway climate change
* Coral reefs
* Deforestation
* Defaunation
* Desertification
* Ecocide
* Erosion
* Environmental degradation
* Freshwater cycle
* Habitat destruction
* Holocene extinction
* Nitrogen cycle
* Land degradation
* Land consumption
* Land surface effects on climate
* Loss of green belts
* Phosphorus cycle
* Ocean acidification
* Ozone depletion
* Resource depletion
* Water degradation
* Water scarcity

Mitigation|

* Birth control
* Cleaner production
* Climate change mitigation
* Climate engineering
* Community resilience
* Decoupling
* Ecological engineering
* Environmental engineering
* Environmental mitigation
* Industrial ecology
* Mitigation banking
* Organic farming
* Reforestation
* urban
* Restoration ecology
* Sustainable consumption
* Waste minimization

* Commons
* Category
* by country
* assessment
* mitigation

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