KA.NK \\i 



LIME 

 CALCIUM CARBONATE 



Locml 



and still does so to a large extent. The returns of 1904 show a supply 

 of IL':UIIM tons of lime, valued at 9,496. :t. /,' i /://. The In 



Vindlivan limestone near Rhotasgarh is quarried to a small extent, and 

 exported down die Son in boats ; it was largely used in the works of the 

 ii, tl. (iood lime is made from the deposits at Bisra, in theSingbhum 

 t . and has recently begun to arrive in Calcutta in increasing quantity. 

 1. ////!/.( v.i Along the foot of the Himalaya, boulders of limestone iumuy. 

 are collected and burnt in large quantities every year ; the slaked lime i 

 exported on camels and supplies a large portion of the Pan jab and the 

 1 Provinces. 5. ANDAMAN There is a band of cream-coloured 

 marble near Port Blair which may prove of economic importance, as it is 

 a i>o ut the same distance from Calcutta as Katni, and the lime is of equally 

 good quality. 6. OTHKH LOCMJTIKX where limestone is known are 

 iiunerous, but at present of merely local importance, or in most cases of 

 no \alue whatever. A full list of them as far as they are known will be 

 found in the Manual of the Geology of India (1881, iii., 449 et seq.)." 



(h) Lime, Concretionary or Kankar; Imp. GaZ., l.C. 23. Medlicott OX- Kankar. 



plained the formation of this substance as due to the evaporation of 

 the ground water, containing in solution more or less of carbonate of lime, 

 produced in the stow process of soil -formation by the general decom- 

 position of rock particles. Its production is, however, very much a matter 

 of climate, i.e. alternating periods of extreme moisture and dryness. In 

 the vast majority of cases a layer of kankar (a word which means simply 

 nodular stone) will be found to underlie mar soils. This circumstance has 

 been purposely only incidentally alluded to in the passages that deal with 

 nli efflorescence (p. 52), because, although doubtless formed by the same 

 physical processes, reh and lime have not been shown to be dependent 



Ion each other. Reh efflorescence may occur without any formation of 

 kankar, and conversely kankar may exist within the soil without any 

 evidence of reh efflorescence or even of an abnormal deposition of 

 soluble alkalis. 

 Kankar is the chief source of lime in Upper India, and it yields an 

 excellent and somewhat hydraulic cement. Holland (Rev. Min. Prod., 

 I.e. 1898-1903, 102) speaks of kankar and laterite as " about the most 

 valuable assets in building material possessed by the country." James valuable Aawt. 

 Cleghorn (Ind. and East. Engin., June 1898, 356-7) gives the results 

 of his study of this substance and of its practical utilisation as mortar. 

 Very often the nodules of kankar are so abundant, at certain depths below 

 the surface of the ground, that they become consolidated into blocks. 

 Such blocks when obtainable are largely employed for building purposes, 

 and were so used extensively in the Ganges Canal Works. Kankar, 

 broken and hammered while water is poured over, is the material mainly 

 used for road-making in the greater part of India. This circumstance Road-mating, 

 gives at once a vivid conception of the abundance and extensive distri- 

 hution of the substance. Kankar has been tried as a flux for iron on 

 several occasions, but with very indifferent results. Its composition is 

 too variable and its liability to adulteration too great to admit of its 

 use, except where limestones are not available. " Large quantities of 

 lime are made in various parts of India from highly calcareous surface 

 soil.'Yjjj " This lime when mixed [with proper proportions of sand 

 makes most excellent mortar." (Repl. Chief Insp. of Mines in Ind., 

 1904, 4.) 



711 



Mortar. 



