All about the limestone rock. Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock that is composed primarily of calcium carbonate (formula: CaCO 3). Its bulk is the result of deposits of hard shells and shells of ancient marine organisms. Less common is limestone formed by chemical means.

Due to the presence of acids in water, this rock tends to gradually dissolve, which leads to the appearance of caves and karst cavities. When heated, it decomposes, releasing carbon dioxide. This reaction is used in the production of cement and is also responsible for the presence of gas in mineral waters.

Limestone deposits vary in age. His appearance. For example, Jurassic limestones differ significantly in appearance from Triassic limestones.

Different impurities give this rock different properties. Due to the admixture of manganese oxide, dolomitic limestones are formed. An admixture of sulfur oxide is characteristic of marly rocks. Sandy limestones contain admixtures of quartz, opal, and chalcedony. Rocks with an admixture of clay are also known.

The color of limestones is predominantly light shades, it can be white, gray, or yellow. Reddish and brown colors are less common. Sometimes you can find greenish and brown shades. The rarest color option is black.

Density different types limestones range from 2500 to 3000 kg per cubic meter.

Distribution of limestone rock

Limestone is a fairly common rock. There is a lot of it in Russia, Europe and North America. The only region where it is not available is Australia. Deposits of this rock are usually confined to the bottoms of ancient seas, where aquatic organisms with calcareous shells lived. Many European mountains (such as the Alps) are composed almost entirely of limestone.

Limestone: where is it mined?

The wide distribution of limestone makes it possible to mine it in various regions of the world. In Russia the majority large deposits confined to the western part of the country. There are quarries for the extraction of this stone in Leningrad, Voronezh, Tula, Belgorod, Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions. Limestone is also mined in the North Caucasus, the Urals, in certain regions of Siberia and in the Moscow region.

In the Vologda region, limestone is mined in quarries located close to the plant where it is processed.

The most famous of the Russian deposits are Shvakinskoye and Savinskoye. They are located in the Arkhangelsk region. The limestone extracted from them is sent to cement factories. The total reserves of this rock in these deposits exceed 100 thousand tons. Approximately half of this volume will be used in subsequent production.

The most profitable deposits are located in the central regions of the European territory of Russia. In the Urals it has the largest reserves Chelyabinsk region, and in Siberia - Novosibirsk, Kemerovo regions and Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Active development of limestone for cement production is carried out in the vicinity of Novorossiysk.

Limestone mining in Novosibirsk

A large modern quarry, where limestones of the Sokolsko-Sitovskoye deposit are mined, is located two kilometers northeast of Lipetsk. This quarry produces so-called fluxing limestone, about 15 percent of which is obtained here. This is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world: its dimensions are 1.5 by 0.5 km, its depth is 50 m. At the current level of production, the reserves of extracted raw materials will be sufficient for development for more than 30 years.

The CIS countries also have large reserves of this breed. The largest deposit in Europe is located in the Donetsk region near the village of Elenovka. Dolomite is also mined here. The field has been developed for 150 years.

Some sections are distinguished by the special quality of the rock mined from them. In Russia, this is the famous deposit near the village of Myachkovo, located near the Moscow River. The limestone mined there is distinguished by its white color and high strength. This allows it to be used for laying pavements and in the construction of mills.

How is limestone mined?

How is limestone mined?

Limestone is extracted in quarries. This option for extracting minerals is called open. At the first stage, so-called stripping operations are carried out. They involve removing the top layers of soil under which the mineral is located. During the operation of the quarry, mining is carried out directly. After its completion, reclamation measures are carried out.

The mining procedure involves grinding (crushing) the rock on site, followed by transporting it to the processing site.

Explosions and other methods and technologies are used to grind it. The latter include excavators - giant machines that dig into a layer of limestone rock. Hydraulic loosening methods are also used.

Methods of using limestone

The widest scope of application of this breed is construction and finishing work. Entire houses are built from it. Layers of high-quality limestone are used for finishing and paving. Containing imprints of ancient animals, this stone is a favorite among decorators and designers.

Application of limestone

One of the varieties of limestone - marl - is actively used to produce cement. It is also used to produce lime.

Another type of this rock is chalk - used for drawing, when creating welding devices, and in the production of rubber. Certain types of limestone are used in printing. It is also used in the production of heat-insulating materials, in the metallurgical, chemical and food industries. It is often used to create embankments, including during the construction of railways.

In the past, limestone was successfully used in the construction of large structures. It was used to create such famous objects as the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids and many others. Some of them were built more than a thousand years ago and are still well preserved. In Russia, with its help, various churches were built (the Temple of Boris and Gleb, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl), as well as other buildings in Moscow, Suzdal, St. Petersburg and other cities. It was used for paving sidewalks, in the construction of stairs, columns, and fences. This stone was imported to Russia from Estonia.

In Greece it was used to create sculptures, in Western Europe - in the construction of buildings and temples. The famous Notre Dame Cathedral in France was also built from this stone. The famous Belem Tower in Lisbon was also built using limestone.

Sedimentary rock of organic, less often chemogenic origin, consisting primarily of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite crystals of various sizes.

Limestone, consisting mainly of shells of marine animals and their fragments, is called shellweed. In addition, there are nummulitic, bryozoan and marble-like limestones - massively layered and thin-layered. During metamorphism, limestone recrystallizes and forms marble.

Calcium carbonate, which is part of limestone, can slowly dissolve in water and also decompose into carbon dioxide and corresponding bases. The first process is the most important factor in the formation of karst, the second, occurring at great depths under the influence of the deep heat of the Earth, provides a source of gas for mineral waters.

Scope of application

Limestone brick

Limestone is most widely used as building material. The strength of many types of limestone is sufficient for the construction of multi-story buildings. Thin layers of wear-resistant stone - limestone - are a ready-made material, such limestone is used to clad buildings and pave paths.

Layered limestone with a pronounced weathering relief is valued by decorators, designers and landscape architects.

Manufacturers of natural stone products often successfully play up the biological origin of the rock. The shells of ancient mollusks, preserved in limestone deposits, become an important expressive element of finishing materials. Cement is also indispensable for any construction - which, in turn, is made from a percentage-controlled mixture of limestone and clay.

Limestone marl

Marl is the name of the variety, which contains the required amount of aluminosilicates. It is mined in many regions of the world.

How is limestone mined?

Limestone can be mined using the explosive method. To do this, you first need to open up the deposits by removing the soil from them using bulldozers. It is also necessary to remove clay and substandard limestone from them. It is necessary to drill holes along the edge of the mining site and place explosives there. If the explosions are organized correctly, they will break off large layers of limestone, which then need to be loaded into dump trucks and taken to the processing site.

Rocks such as limestone are widely used for construction and finishing work. It is distinguished by fairly high strength, durability, and very good aesthetic characteristics. Quite a few deposits of limestone have been found both in our country and abroad, and many of them are undergoing very active mining of this magnificent natural stone. The following main methods are used for this:

• Explosive;
• Excavator;
• Combine.

Each of them has its own specifics, advantages and disadvantages.

Limestone mining by explosive method

This method of extracting limestone is the simplest, least expensive and therefore more widespread than others. It consists in the fact that explosives are placed in a rock layer in certain places, and as a result of the explosion, many fragments are formed, having a variety of sizes: from huge boulders to small crumbs. They are transported from the quarry to specialized enterprises, where they are sorted and processed.

Mining limestone using excavators

This method is more “gentle” than explosive. It consists in the fact that specialized equipment is attached to heavy excavator machines working in limestone quarries, which is designed to quickly loosen the rock. There are several designs of such units; they can have either a hydraulic or mechanical drive. It should be noted that these units are designed in such a way that their replacement takes a matter of seconds: the loosening agent is quickly replaced with a bucket, with the help of which the mined rock is loaded into the dump truck, and then installed back. The use of this mining method allows for partial sorting of limestone into fractions directly in the quarry.

Mining limestone using milling machines

This method of extracting limestone consists of using a special milling machine to grind the stone into fractions of a certain size directly in the quarry. This method is very effective from an economic point of view, since there is no need to carry out additional processing of the stone at a specialized enterprise. It is estimated that the overall cost of mining limestone with cutter miners is approximately 10% lower than with excavator attachments.

This is how you live and don’t notice what’s going on under your nose))) About ten kilometers from the house there is the Sokolsko-Sitovsky quarry, from which on Thursdays (and sometimes on Tuesdays) there is always an explosion - they are tearing up layers of limestone. In the early 90s, I even worked there as an assistant to an excavator operator. Moreover, he trained to become an excavator operator, but did not start working...

Of course, I know how limestone is mined. But I didn’t know that it could look so beautiful and romantic)))

Original taken from chistoprudov in How limestone is mined.

Detailed production report from the quarry of the Sokolsko-Sitovskoye flux limestone deposit, located a couple of kilometers northeast of Lipetsk. Below the cut are large excavators, BelAZ trucks, a factory, conveyors, an explosion and much more...

1. Some official data: The quarry is developed by JSC Studenovskaya Joint-Stock Mining Company, currently the company is part of the NLMK Group and is one of the Russian leaders in the production of fluxing limestone, used mainly in the metallurgical industry and construction.

2. Production volumes account for more than 15% of mined fluxed limestone in Russia.

3. The dimensions of the quarry are impressive: 1500x500 meters, and depth - 50 meters. Here you can easily build more than 10 football fields or lay out a track for Formula 1...

4. According to geologists, the reserves of raw materials in the quarry at the current capacity will be enough for at least 30 years of operation.

5. Limestone is a widespread sedimentary rock formed with the participation of living organisms in sea basins. Once upon a time, approximately 350-370 million years ago BC, in the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era, the Lipetsk region, like many regions of central Russia, was a sea. Often in rock fragments you can find fossil remains of ancient life of those years...

6. The field is being developed open method. Process Mineral extraction can be divided into the following main types of work:
Stripping works
Mining works
Dumping and mining reclamation
Transport work
Mineral processing

7. Stripping works.
First, using a bulldozer or loader, remove the upper fertile layer soil - chernozem, and store it for subsequent reclamation of lands disturbed by mining operations. Next comes a clay layer about 20 meters thick, which is mined by electric excavators with a bucket capacity of 8 - 10 cubic meters. Stripping operations also include partial removal of substandard (low-quality) limestone, which is located directly under the clay layer.

8. This photograph clearly shows a slice of the “quarry pie”: a layer of clay, a layer of substandard limestone and a smooth ledge of minerals. The crumbling hill of limestone under the ledge is a consequence of the explosion. It is these “consequences of the call” that are loaded into BelAZ trucks and taken to the factory. And all overburden rocks are taken to an internal dump.

9. Mining work.
It is customary for miners to say extraction, with the emphasis on the first syllable. The actual extraction of limestone is preceded by drilling and blasting operations - the most spectacular part of the entire process.

10. A hard layer of limestone that cannot be scooped up with an excavator bucket must be drilled, explosive materials placed in it and blasted. Drilling rigs of the SBR type, powered by electricity, are used for drilling.

11. Serious drilling rigs, they drill to a depth of 24 meters (7 floors) wells with a diameter of 16 cm. Drilling one well takes 50 minutes. A string of wells, stretched out in a line, is drilled one by one 5 meters from the edge of the cliff.

12. Brave driller!

13. For the explosion, industrial and conversion explosives are used, the acquisition of which requires a whole bunch of various permits and licenses, as well as special transport for transportation and armed guards. You can't just buy gunpowder at the market...

14. TNT blocks serve as a detonator.

15. On average, to carry out one explosion, about 30 wells are drilled, into which a total of 5-6 tons of explosives are placed.

16. A detonating cord is used to connect all wells with explosives into a single chain.

17. An explosion is a very important matter! The quarry is completely cordoned off, and guards are posted in the area of ​​the future explosion. All equipment is moved to a safe distance, and BelAZ trucks generally leave the quarry. Before the explosion, all cordon posts are surveyed by radio and the situation is clarified. If everything is normal, permission is given to carry out blasting operations. (The security post and transformer booth are also being taken away).

18. The wells are not exploded simultaneously, but with a delay of several hundredths of a second, otherwise there will be an earthquake, and the glass of most of the buildings in Lipetsk will fly out.

19. For a sense of scale, on the right side of the frame there is an excavator the size of a 4-story building... Small pieces of rock can fly away to a distance comparable to the height of the main building of Moscow State University - 250 meters.

20. You can see how heavy pieces of hard rock are separated from the ledge in even rows and fall down.

21. The entire explosion takes place in a few seconds and is clearly audible in the city. This is what collapsed rock looks like. After the smoke clears and the dust settles, the blasters will check for any undetonated charges, after which the excavators and BelAZ trucks will get down to their work.

22. The rock is loaded into the BelAZ using a mechanical shovel (that is, an excavator), or more precisely, using a self-propelled full-rotary excavating and loading machine. This monster runs on 6,000 volts of electricity, the photo shows the high voltage cable that powers the excavator's motors. In one day of operation, the machine consumes as much energy as an ordinary nine-story residential building does in a week.

23. At one time, the excavator can load 10 ordinary photographers, or 20 Chinese photographers.

24.

25. The weight of such a bucket is 16 tons.

26. Each excavator employs two people to ensure continuity of the production process.

27. In total, there are 6 large excavators in the quarry (buckets with a volume of 8 and 10 cubic meters) and 2 smaller ones, with a bucket volume of about 5 cubic meters.

28. Sometimes equipment breaks down. For example, the main gear of this excavator has failed and is being repaired right in the quarry. The diameter of the limply hanging steel ropes is 4 cm.

29. And this is a now decommissioned veteran who honestly gave about 40 years to the enterprise. Despite his advanced age and shabby appearance, grandfather, in case of emergency, can be taken to work in the quarry.

30. Dumping and mining reclamation.
At a constant depth, the quarry bowl constantly moves in the direction in which the limestone lies. On one side of the quarry, overburden is removed and limestone is extracted; on the other, the mined-out space is filled with overburden rocks, limestone crushing screenings and black soil.

31.

32. Screenings formed after crushing limestone and unsuitable for use are brought from the crushing and processing plant in dump cars. The excavator dumps everything onto the dump, filling the mined-out space of the quarry. Then the dumps will be covered with previously uncovered soil and black soil on top.

33. This mechanical shovel is smaller - with a 5 cubic meter bucket.

34. Next, the land is plowed and biological reclamation is carried out - sowing the land useful plants. In a few years, the reclaimed land can be used again for agricultural purposes. Previously, the quarry started right from the plantings (on the right in the frame) and in 20 years it moved 600 meters. Now there is a field. In the future, the quarry may advance another 2.7 kilometers.

35. Transport work.
Every day, 12 BelAZ trucks work on the line in the quarry, which ensure the transportation of overburden rock to dumps, and the mined limestone to the crushing and processing plant.

36. Belazi workers work around the clock in three shifts, eight hours each. BelAZ makes up to 100 trips per day and transports up to 16 thousand tons of mined limestone. In three months the car covers the distance from Moscow to Vladivostok.

37. The carrying capacity of such a BelAZ is 55 tons, more than its own weight. BelAZ trucks with a higher carrying capacity are not practical to use in this quarry for several reasons: quarry depth, transportation distance, production volume, and so on. Sets this baby mammoth in motion diesel engine at 700 l/s.

38. If, during transportation from BelAZ, something falls onto the road, for example a large stone, a special wheeled bulldozer will remove it back to the face, to the excavator.

39. In the quarry they are actively fighting dust; the roads are constantly doused with a special sprinkler. And in winter, watering is replaced by sprinkling with a sand-salt mixture.

40. To take this shot, I had to ask the driver on the radio (every piece of equipment in the quarry is equipped with a radio station) to drive off the watered road. The permissible speed in the quarry is 20 km/h.

41. The quarry has 14 km of technological roads built using the bulk method; there is also electrification and substations to power excavators. The roads are excellent; you can easily navigate them in a car.

42. BelAZ repair and maintenance workshop.

43.

44. The body and engine of this BelAZ were removed.

45. The extracted minerals are brought to the processing plant and loaded into a receiving bunker. Before this, the dump truck is weighed and the weight of the cargo is obtained by simply subtracting the weight of the empty BelAZ.

46. ​​Reception hopper.

47. Mineral processing.
This is the first building of the factory - a large crushing building. Here, the jaw crusher coarsely crushes large pieces of rock. The resulting fractions are up to 10 cm in size.

49. Approximately 15,000 tons of rock are transported on a conveyor belt per day.

50. The cone crusher performs medium crushing.

51. A clever system of vibrating screens. In closed devices, products are divided into fractions (according to the size of the stones) and distributed along conveyors.

52. The workshop can easily fit an ordinary five-story house...

53. Very fine limestone - screenings up to 1 cm are sent for unloading into dump cars for subsequent transportation to the quarry dump.

54. Sorting and loading building. The finished product is delivered here, where it is loaded into railway cars. The main consumer of the products is the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works.

55.

56. One carriage contains 69 tons of crushed stone.

57.

58. Loading into vehicles is taking place nearby.

59. Work in the quarry does not stop at night. For this purpose, backlighting works on excavators.

60.

61. UFO.

62. The 55-ton BelAZ trucks used in quarry work are relatively small, and by miners’ standards they are just small. Someday I will definitely look at the work of 320-ton trucks!

63. The night quarry and the factory are beautiful!

I would also like to say something about the people with whom I worked for two filming days. Open, kind, cheerful miners, happy to talk about their work and technology. Real men!
Thanks to all the staff

To understand what limestone is, you need to know about its origin and occurrence. Looking ahead, we will say that this rock is in great demand in construction as a natural stone, and also as a binder in the production of lime and cement.

Limestone is also used in the food and chemical industries and as a flux (impurity) in metallurgy. Such widespread use and popularity of the material explains its extraction on a huge scale in many parts of the world.

How does limestone form?

Living marine organisms, large and small, are very important in the formation of limestone. Developing in the depths of the sea in huge quantities, these marine inhabitants multiply incredibly quickly, but also die quickly.

Microorganisms manage to extract from water during their existence sufficient quantity lime to equip your body with reliable protection in the form of shells or various shells. Subsequently, the skeletons of dead microorganisms lie on the seabed in entire layers.

Over time, these layers are pressed by the water mass, become strong and eventually turn into stone, the main component of which is calcite. As a result, the amount of calcium carbonate is 60% of the total mass of limestone. The rest consists of carbon dioxide and minor clay impurities. It is the impurities that color limestone in different colors.

Types of limestone

Natural stone is characterized by the following parameters:

• origin;
• structure;
• chemical composition;
• structure.

Video: Limestone-shell rock

Origin of the stone

• Organogenic. They are formed from various remains of organic origin, which include: slurry and reef limestone, as well as shell rock.
• Chemogenic. Occur during calcium precipitation.
• Clastic. They are the result of the destructive activity of the oldest limestones.

Limestone structure

Chemical composition

• Dolomitized. These limestones contain up to 17% magnesium. As this figure increases, dolomitized limestones pass into the dolomite group, having previously gone through a number of intermediate processes.
• Marbled limestones are transitional variants of formations, resulting in transformation into marble.
• Marls. Stones containing up to 50% clay particles.

Structure

• Limestones differ in degree of grain size:
• Oolitic. They have a granular structure. The oolite grains are tightly bound together. The grain size does not exceed 1 mm. Oolites have the ability to dissolve. Then voids form in their place.
• Posolite. The structure of these limestones consists of larger grains, the size of which exceeds 1 mm.

Natural stone color

The standard color of the breed is white, gray, yellowish. The impurities that make up the stone can give it different shades: clay particles - brown tones, algae - greenish, iron and manganese - reddish reflections. The presence of impurities in limestone rock produces beautiful results.

Where and how is limestone mined?

Limestones have the ability to form in any body of water: marine, freshwater. But the bulk of this breed is still of marine origin.

Apart from Australia, rock deposits are found on almost all continents. Large reserves of limestone are found in America. The central part of Russia is rich in stone deposits. Its production is successfully carried out in the following regions of the Russian Federation: in the Moscow region, as well as in the Voronezh, Arkhangelsk and Tula regions.

IN Krasnodar region Limestone quarries are also being organized in the Leningrad region, Belgorod and Vologda regions. Rock deposits in the Urals and Siberia can be called piecemeal. The Alps, whose mountain ranges are composed mainly of limestone, provide evidence that the mountain range was once integral part seabed.

Video: How limestone slabs are made for finishing

This rock is mined using open-pit mining. First, the upper substandard layers of limestone, clay and earth are removed. Then explosives are placed around the entire perimeter of the mine. Directional explosions break the rock into huge pieces, which in turn are loaded onto dump trucks using excavators and delivered to the processing site.

Where is limestone used?

The breed is distinguished by its variety of uses in various fields:

The material is used in different forms:

• in the form of crushed stone;
• rubble stone, piece or lump;
• mineral powder or crumbs;
• sand;
• facing slabs;
• limestone flour;
• mineral wool.

In hydraulic structures, porous limestone is used as a water filter. This breed is in great demand when arranging the foundations of buildings. The components of ordinary limestone are lime and concrete.

Crushed stone is included in the composition of the road surface of routes that are not subject to frequent loads. Limestone is used to produce soda and is also the basis of numerous mineral fertilizers.

Limestone is good at splitting, cutting and sawing, and can be processed in any direction. The high thermal insulation properties of the rock and its durability make it possible to create a wide variety of high-quality building materials.

Limestone tiles

This facing material is used for finishing various surfaces. External cladding of the building with limestone tiles will improve the appearance of the building and provide it with a long service life. IN country house there are other places where you can use facing tiles: stairs, swimming pools, landscape design elements.

Limestone tiles are also actively used for finishing the internal surfaces of buildings: walls, floors, window sills. Beautiful, well-combined colors natural material allow you to create truly unique designs for bar counters, kitchen countertops, arches, and fireplaces.

Impact of climatic conditions on the properties of limestone

Rock is valued as a building material for its low density, pliability to sawing and cutting tools, excellent adhesive properties and a variety of external advantages.

Wet climatic conditions significantly reduce the strength of limestone. Moreover, the stone is characterized by the heterogeneity of the rock, therefore the density here is different. Special attention must be paid to this important point.

The strength of the material and the duration of its operation are affected by its frost resistance. This parameter is much higher in crystalline limestones, but in the absence of pores and cracks in the material.

To prevent the destruction of the natural material during its use, it is necessary to take into account the above-mentioned properties of limestone.