CONSTRUCTION STONE 



161 



Table 35. — Production of stone in 1969, 

 in the United States 



types of stone, 



Percentage of total 



Type 



Tonnage Value 



Crushed stone 



Limestone (including dolomite) 73 $67 



Granite 9 9 



Marble ■. .2 2 



Sandstone (including quartzite) _ 3 4 



Traprock 10 11 



Other 4.8 7 



100 100 



Total millions— 861 $1,326 



Dimension stone 



Granite 37 $46 



Limestone (including dolomite) 31 18 



Marble 4 13 



Sandstone (including quartzite) _ 17 11 



Slate 8 9 



Other 3 3 



100 100 



Total millions— 1.873 $99 



h 



cost of transportation determine which of the two 

 is used in any particular job; these qualifications 

 depend upon local features. In areas which have 

 been glaciated (for example, the Ohio Valley and 

 the Great Lakes) or in coastal-plain areas, consoli- 

 date rock may be scarce or may be covered by un- 

 consolidated materials, giving the latter products a 

 competitive cost advantage. 



Other substitutes for crushed stone are manufac- 

 tured aggregates, such as slag or expanded light- 

 weight aggregates. 



Principal substitutes for dimension stone are pre- 

 cast concrete slabs or blocks (which may use either 

 crushed stone, sand and gravel, or expanded shale 

 as aggregate), bricks, and glass or ceramic prod- 

 ucts. Use of dimension stone as a principal struc- 

 tural material has declined since the growth of 

 structural steel construction, but many producers 

 are now providing dimension stone in thin slabs or 

 as composites, with concrete backing, for exterior 

 use (Bliss, 1971), and a growing demand is an- 

 ticipated. 



PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH 



Although the United States is self-sufficient in 

 resources of stone, local problems commonly result 

 from lack of adequate planning to reserve the best 

 areas for quarrying. Many communities expanded so 

 rapidly during the 1950's and 1960's that potential 

 quarry sites were surrounded, or in some cases cov- 



ered, with urban development. Then, when existing 

 quarries approached property lines, or encountered 

 excessive water which increased the cost of deeper 

 quarrying, the operators had difficulty in locating 

 and developing a new site. Residents object to the 

 noise, vibration, blasting, dust, and increased truck 

 traffic associated with quarrying. To avoid this, op- 

 erators have had to go to more distant sites, thereby 

 increasing the cost of the delivered product. One 

 alternative to this is underground quarying, which 

 has the additional advantage of providing usable 

 underground space after the rock has been removed. 

 An example is a 1,500-acre tract in Kansas City, 

 Mo., where the planned use as an underground stor- 

 age area serves as a guide in the extraction of 

 limestone (Missouri Geological Survey and Water 

 Resources, 1970). 



In most areas, certain geologic formations pro- 

 vide the best source of stone for construction. If a 

 geologic map of the area has been made, it is a 

 simple matter to prepare a map showing areas of 

 suitable quarry rock which should be preserved, and 

 these could be of great assistance to zoning boards, 

 planning commissions, and other nongeological 

 groups who are faced with the problem of locating 

 construction stone. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 



American Society for Testing and Materials, 1970, Annual 

 book of ASTM standards, pt. 10: 620 p. 



1972, Annual book of ASTM standards, pt. 12: 516 p. 



Barton, W. R., 1968, Dimension stone: U.S. Bur. Mines 

 Inf. Circ. 8391, 147 p. 



Bliss, D. R., ("Bud"), 1971, The shape of things to come: 

 Stone Mag., v. 91, no. 1, p. 6-9. 



Bowles, Oliver, 1939, The stone industries [2d ed.] : New 

 York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 519 p. 



■ 1956, Limestone and dolomite: U.S. Bur. Mines Inf. 



Circ. 7738, 29 p. 



1960a, Dimension stone, in Gillson, J. L., ed.. In- 

 dustrial minerals and rocks [3d ed.] : Am. Inst. Mining 

 Metall. and Petroleum Engineers, p. 321-337. 



1906b, Slate, in Gillson, J. L., ed.. Industrial minerals 



and rocks [3d ed.] : Am. Inst. Mining Metall. and Pe- 

 troleum Engineers, p. 791-798. 

 Cooper, J. D., 1970, Stone, in Mineral facts and problems, 



1970: U.S. Bur. Mines Bull. 650, p. 1219-1235. 

 Currier, L. W., 1960, Geologic appraisal of dimension-stone 



deposits: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1109, 78 p. 

 Daugherty, Mary, and Fahrney, Nellie, 1972, Statistical 



summary U.S. Bur. Mines, preprint from 1970 Bureau of 



Mines Minerals Yearbook, 36 p. 

 Division of Nonmetallic Minerals, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 



1972, Stone, in Commodity data summaries: U.S. Bur. 



Mines, p. 140-141. 

 Drake, H. J., 1972, Stone: U.S. Bur. Mines, preprint from 



1970 Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook, 19 p. 



