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Environmental issues related to quarrying of building materials
Major Environmental Concerns
Quarrying has a significant impact on the environment. It can become a major
environmental concern because it destroys the flora and fauna around it.
Land Degradation
The quarrying Process exclaves large land areas to extract the mineral ore and on the other
hand, there is a requirement of huge areas to dump the mine spoils. This process of change
in topography results in drastic changes in drainage patterns and a reduction in aesthetic
value. While the extraction is underway, the landscape is visibly disfigured and habitat loss
can be extensive. Quarrying destroys natural vegetation by scraping the upland soil and
thereby also destroys the habitats of many wild animals. It cleans the surface vegetation,
which destroys the humus in the soil which is essential for plant growth. Fine dust particles
spread in the air around a quarrying site destroy natural vegetation.
Erosion
Quarrying in hilly areas causes erosion of hillsides, mine dumps, and tailings dams, which
can result in the siltation of canals, streams, and rivers, which significantly affects
surrounding areas. Due to quarrying, soil erosion reduces the availability of water for plant
growth, which may result in population decline in plant ecosystems. Quarrying also causes
coastal erosion, resulting in flooding in coastal areas. In the agricultural sector, it can
disturb or destroy productive grazing and cropland. It can also destroy ecosystems and
habitats in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. River Quarrying transforms the river
beds into large and deep pits, and as a result, the groundwater table drops leaving the
drinking water wells.
Air Pollution
Deep quarrying activities can affect local hydrology causing the water flow as well as
quality. The quarrying process generates a lot of dust which causes air pollution. That
means dust from quarry sites is a major source of air pollution, although the intensity
depends on factors such as local microclimatic conditions, dust particle size, and their
chemistry. Limestone quarries produce highly alkaline and reactive specks of dust on the
other hand coal mines produce acidic dust. Air pollution affects human health, mainly
effects on the respiratory system. Air pollution also has physical effects on surrounding
plants by depositing dust particles on the surface of plants, blocking and damaging their
internal structure, and abrasion of leaves and cuticles.
Water Pollution
Quarrying activities cause pollution of surrounding water resources and groundwater. High
concentrations of chemicals such as arsenic, sulphuric acid, and mercury produced from
quarrying operations spread over the water surface. This sewage containing the above-
mentioned chemicals leads to the destruction of the surrounding vegetation. If this runoff
water is dumped into the forest areas, it will create a bad situation for the environment.
Noise Pollution
Quarrying operations involve many activities that generate significant levels of noise.
Those preparatory activities are the establishment of the road to the quarry site, rail access,
drilling activities, blasting activities, hydraulic excavator truck operations, and product
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processing activities. Quarrying site involves the use of explosives to break huge chunks of
rocks, which leads to massive noise pollution. And also blasting done for quarrying
generates great vibrations that can damage nearby constructions like civilian buildings,
dams, etc. the use of powered machinery which involves the transport of materials and
processing crushing of the products contributes more noise to the environment.
Damage to Biodiversity
One of the biggest concerns of quarrying on the environment is the damage to biodiversity.
Although habitats are not directly removed by quarrying activities, they are indirectly
affected and damaged by environmental impacts such as groundwater depletion that causes
some habitats to dry out or others to flood. Even noise pollution can also have a significant
impact on some species and affect their successful reproduction.
Sinkholes
At the time of quarrying activities, overburden at the quarry site can develop cavities in the
subsoil or rock, which can refill with sand and soil from overlying strata, when sudden
failure of the earth creates a large depression at the surface without warning can cause
serious hazards to life and property nearby by quarry site.
Improper disposal of Quarry Waste
Many man-made activities and machinery activities on a quarry site generate significant
amounts of waste. Dumping of quarry waste without a proper site can harm the
environment, and the severity of impacts depends on the method of quarrying and the
natural topography surrounding the quarry sites. Furthermore, the treatment, storage of
waste products, and disposal of waste may produce more negative impacts on the
environment. Even the chemicals involved in the Quarry operations may increase
dangerous particles in the wastage which may imbalance the freshwater ecosystem when
the query wastage is disposed of in nearby lakes or rivers. When waste material has to be
dumped on the adjacent land, it is chemically contaminated and affects the hydrological
instability of plant growth as it is carried to the watercourses and degraded environment
near the land.
