Aggregate (geology)

Mass of rock, gravel, sand, soil particles, or of minerals in a rock

For other uses, see Aggregate (disambiguation).

Crystal aggregate (lapis lazuli from Afghanistan) Construction aggregate (a gravel pit in Germany) Soil aggregate in Spain

In the Earth sciences, aggregate has three possible meanings.

In mineralogy and petrology, an aggregate is a mass of mineral crystals, mineraloid particles or rock particles.[1][2] Examples are dolomite, which is an aggregate of crystals of the mineral dolomite,[3] and rock gypsum, an aggregate of crystals of the mineral gypsum.[4] Lapis lazuli is a type of rock composed of an aggregate of crystals of many minerals including lazurite, pyrite, phlogopite, calcite, potassium feldspar, wollastonite and some sodalite group minerals.[5]

In the construction industry, an aggregate (often referred to as a construction aggregate) is sand, gravel or crushed rock that has been mined or quarried for use as a building material.

In pedology, an aggregate is a mass of soil particles. If the aggregate has formed naturally, it can be called a ped; if formed artificially, it can be called a clod.[6]

## Construction aggregate examples

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* basalt

* dolomite
* granite
* gravel
* limestone[7][8]
* sand
* sandstone

## Use in industry

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Aggregates are used extensively in the construction industry[9][10] Often in making concrete, a construction aggregate is used,[4] with about 6 billion tons of concrete produced per year.[11]

## See also

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* Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ)
* Soil structure

## References

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1. ^ Neuendorf, K.K.E.; Mehl, J.P. Jr.; Jackson, J.A., eds. (2005). Glossary of Geology (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. p. 11.
2. ^ Abel, Mara; Lorenzatti, Alexandre; Rama Fiorini, Sandro; Carbonera, Joel (2015). Ontological analysis of the lithology data in PPDM well core model. PNEC Conferences. Houston. p. 3. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
3. ^ Teichert, Curt (1965). Devonian Rocks and Paleogeography of Arizona (US Geological Survey Professional Paper 464) (PDF). Washington DC: USGS. p. 150.
4. ^ a b Jessica Elzea Kogel (2006). Industrial Minerals & Rocks: Commodities, Markets, and Uses (7th ed.). SME. p. 522\. ISBN 978-0-87335-233-8.
5. ^ T. Calligaro; Y. Coquinot; L. Pichon; B. Moignard (2011). "Advances in elemental imaging of rocks using the AGLAE external microbeam". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B. 269 (20): 2364–2372. Bibcode:2011NIMPB.269.2364C. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2011.02.074.
6. ^ Allaby, Ailsa; Allaby, Michael (1999). A Dictionary of Earth Sciences (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280079-5.
7. ^ Same Day Aggregates: Types of Aggregates - Same Day Aggregates, accessdate: March 25, 2017
8. ^ Indiana Mineral Aggregates Association | Carmel, IN: What are aggregates? - Indiana Mineral Aggregates Association | Carmel, IN, accessdate: March 25, 2017
9. ^ Introduction (1): What are Aggregates? « Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust: Introduction (1): What are Aggregates? « Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust Archived 2019-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, accessdate: March 23, 2017
10. ^ Define Aggregate at Dictionary.com: aggregate, accessdate: March 23, 2017
11. ^ Qasrawi, Hisham; Marie, Iqbal (2013). "Towards Better Understanding of Concrete Containing Recycled Concrete Aggregate". Advances in Materials Science and Engineering. 2013: 1–8. doi:10.1155/2013/636034.

## External links

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* What are aggregates? Archived 2019-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
* Concrete Aggregates — Geological Considerations
* What is aggregate? — The Bare Essentials of Concrete — Part 2 YouTube video (duration 4 minutes)

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