Limestone has several important uses. It is commonly used as a building material in construction and architecture, cut into blocks and slabs. Crushed limestone is used in roofing materials as a weather resistant coating. Limestone is also a key ingredient in making Portland cement after being heated and ground with other materials. Additionally, limestone provides an important source of calcium carbonate in animal feeds as a supplement for chickens, dairy cattle, and other livestock. Pulverized limestone is also used as a safety measure in coal mines, applied as a dust that improves visibility and reduces explosion risks.
Limestone has several important uses. It is commonly used as a building material in construction and architecture, cut into blocks and slabs. Crushed limestone is used in roofing materials as a weather resistant coating. Limestone is also a key ingredient in making Portland cement after being heated and ground with other materials. Additionally, limestone provides an important source of calcium carbonate in animal feeds as a supplement for chickens, dairy cattle, and other livestock. Pulverized limestone is also used as a safety measure in coal mines, applied as a dust that improves visibility and reduces explosion risks.
Limestone has several important uses. It is commonly used as a building material in construction and architecture, cut into blocks and slabs. Crushed limestone is used in roofing materials as a weather resistant coating. Limestone is also a key ingredient in making Portland cement after being heated and ground with other materials. Additionally, limestone provides an important source of calcium carbonate in animal feeds as a supplement for chickens, dairy cattle, and other livestock. Pulverized limestone is also used as a safety measure in coal mines, applied as a dust that improves visibility and reduces explosion risks.
Limestone has several important uses. It is commonly used as a building material in construction and architecture, cut into blocks and slabs. Crushed limestone is used in roofing materials as a weather resistant coating. Limestone is also a key ingredient in making Portland cement after being heated and ground with other materials. Additionally, limestone provides an important source of calcium carbonate in animal feeds as a supplement for chickens, dairy cattle, and other livestock. Pulverized limestone is also used as a safety measure in coal mines, applied as a dust that improves visibility and reduces explosion risks.
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USES OF LIMESTONE
Dimension Stone: Limestone is often cut into blocks and slabs of specific dimensions for use in construction and in architecture. It is used for facing stone, floor tiles, stair treads, window sills, and many other purposes.
Roofing Granules: Crushed to a fine particle size, crushed limestone is used as a weather and heat-resistant coating on asphalt-impregnated shingles and roofing. It is also used as a top coat on built-up roofs.
Portland Cement: Limestone is heated in a kiln with shale, sand, and other materials and ground to a powder that will harden after being mixed with water.
Animal Feed Filler: Chickens need calcium carbonate to produce strong egg shells, so calcium carbonate is often offered to them as a dietary supplement in the form of "chicken grits." It is also added to the feed of some dairy cattle who must replace large amounts of calcium lost when the animal is milked.
Mine Safety Dust: Also known as "rock dust." Pulverized limestone is a white powder that can be sprayed onto exposed coal surfaces in an underground mine. This coating improves illumination and reduces the amount of coal dust that activity stirs up and releases into the air. This improves the air for breathing, and it also reduces the explosion hazard produced by suspended particles of flammable coal dust in the air. What is a Limestone? Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate.
Characteristics
Chemical and Mechanical Weathering
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, together with sulfur and nitrogen oxides in polluted urban and industrial regions, dissolves in rainwater and groundwater to form weak acids. These acids react with carbonates in the limestone and dissolve the rock, forming sinkholes and caves. Limestone is also subject to mechanical weathering, especially in dry climates, by the abrasive action of wind carrying rock fragments and other debris. This combination of chemical and mechanical weathering makes limestone very vulnerable to deterioration when exposed to the atmosphere.
Porosity and Fractures
Limestone formed through the accumulation of shells and skeletal material has a high initial porosity -- a term referring to the voids between the solid fragments. This porosity decreases with compaction over time as more material is deposited and fragments cement together. Acidic water from the atmosphere or ground dissolves some of this compacted material, creating a secondary porosity. Earth movement over geological time causes the limestone to fracture. Acidic water ingress further enlarges the fractures. When exposed, this dissolution effect appears on the surface as a network of fissures and sinkholes called karst.
Clastic and Nonclastic
There are two principal types of sedimentary rock: clastic, or detrital -- which is made up of small rock fragments -- and nonclastic, also called chemical and inorganic. Clastic limestone is made up of biogenic grains, or clasts, rather than eroded rock fragments, as in the case of sandstones. Such biogenic clasts are shell or bone fragments from dead marine organisms and accumulate by sinking to the bottom of the sea or any other body of water. They also grow in marine environments such as coral reefs. Nonclastic limestone, such as travertines, forms through the precipitation of carbonate crystals in shallow waters and in groundwater, the latter forming stalagmites and stalactites in caves.
