NATURAL STONES

DRUSHTI BHANDARI
SEM 1 B.VOC-ID-ACA-22-064
India possesses a wide spectrum of dimensional stones that include granite,
marble, sandstone, limestone, slate, and quartzite, in various parts of the country.
The stone industry in India has evolved into the production and manufacturing of
blocks, flooring slabs, structural slabs, monuments, tomb stones, sculptures,
cobbles, pebbles, and landscape garden stones.
Rocks are composed primarily of grains of minerals, which are crystalline solids
formed from atoms chemically bonded into an orderly structure. Some rocks also
contain mineraloids, which are rigid, mineral-like substances, such as volcanic
glass, that lacks crystalline structure. The types and abundance of minerals in a
rock are determined by the manner in which it was formed.
Most rocks contain silicate minerals, compounds that include silica tetrahedra in
their crystal lattice, and account for about one-third of all known mineral species
and about 95% of the earth's crust. The proportion of silica in rocks and minerals
is a major factor in determining their names and properties.

 CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS:
Rocks are classified according to characteristics such as mineral and chemical
composition, permeability, texture of the constituent particles, and particle size.
These physical properties are the result of the processes that formed the rocks.
Over the course of time, rocks can be transformed from one type into another, as
described by a geological model called the rock cycle. This transformation
produces three general classes of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
Those three classes are subdivided into many groups. There are, however, no
fixed boundaries between allied rocks. By increase or decrease in the proportions
of their minerals, they pass through gradations from one to the other; the
distinctive structures of one kind of rock may thus be traced, gradually merging
into those of another. Hence the definitions adopted in rock names simply
correspond to selected points in a continuously graduated series.

 Igneous rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word igneous, meaning of fire, from ignis
meaning fire) is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.
This magma may be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a
planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more
of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change
in composition
Igneous rocks are divided into two main categories:
o Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly
within the Earth's crust. A common example of this type is granite.
o Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either
as lava or fragmental ejecta, forming minerals such as pumice or basalt.
Magmas tend to become richer in silica as they rise towards the Earth's surface, a
process called magma differentiation. This occurs both because minerals low in
silica crystallize out of the magma as it begins to cool (Bowen's reaction series)
and because the magma assimilates some of the crustal rock through which it
ascends (country rock), and crustal rock tends to be high in silica. Silica content
is thus the most important chemical criterion for classifying igneous rock. The
content of alkali metal oxides is next in importance.
About 65% of the Earth's crust by volume consists of igneous rocks. Of these,
66% are basalt and gabbro, 16% are granite, and 17% granodiorite and diorite.
Only 0.6% are syenite and 0.3% are ultramafic. The oceanic crust is 99% basalt,
which is an igneous rock of mafic composition. Granite and similar rocks, known
as granitoids, dominate the continental crust.

 Granite:
Granite is a light-coloured igneous
rock with grains large enough to be
visible with the unaided eye. It forms
from the slow crystallization of
magma below Earth's surface.
Granite is composed of quartz and
feldspar with minor amounts of mica,
amphiboles, and other minerals. This
mineral composition usually gives
granite a red, pink, grey, or white
colour with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock.
Granite is the rock most often quarried as a "dimension stone" (a natural rock
material that will be cut into blocks or slabs of specific length, width, and
thickness). Granite is hard enough to resist abrasion, strong enough to bear
significant weight, inert enough to resist weathering, and it accepts a brilliant
polish. These characteristics make it a very desirable and useful dimension stone.
Most of the granite dimension stone produced in the United States comes from
high-quality deposits in five states: Massachusetts, Georgia, New Hampshire,
South Dakota, and Idaho.
Granite has been used for thousands of years in both interior and exterior
applications. Rough-cut and polished granite is used in buildings, bridges,
paving, monuments, and many other exterior projects. Indoors, polished granite
slabs and tiles are used as countertops, floor tiles, stair treads, and many other
practical and decorative features.
High price often reduces the popularity of a construction material. Granite often
costs significantly more than synthetic materials. However, granite is frequently
selected because it is a prestige material, used in projects to produce impressions
of elegance, durability, and lasting quality.
Granite is also used as a crushed stone or aggregate. In this form it is used as a
base material at construction sites, as an aggregate in road construction, railroad
ballast, foundations, and anywhere that a crushed stone is useful as fill.
Price of granite is India starts at around ₹50/sq. ft ranging up to ₹100-₹150 for
most colours.

 Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of
silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a
continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen
tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between
two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of
SiO2. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in
Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar.
Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz, and
the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral. The transformation from
α-quartz to β-quartz takes place abruptly at 573 °C (846 K; 1,063 °F). Since the
transformation is accompanied by a significant change in volume, it can easily
induce micro fracturing of ceramics or rocks passing through this temperature
threshold.
There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are classified
gemstones. Since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most used minerals
in the making of jewellery and hardstone carvings, especially in Eurasia.
Quartz is the mineral defining the value of 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, a
qualitative scratch method for determining the hardness of a material to abrasion.
 Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are formed at the earth's surface by the accumulation and
cementation of fragments of earlier rocks, minerals, and organisms or as
chemical precipitates and organic growths in water (sedimentation). This process
causes clastic sediments (pieces of rock) or organic particles (detritus) to settle
and accumulate or for minerals to chemically precipitate (evaporite) from a
solution. The particulate matter then undergoes compaction and cementation at
moderate temperatures and pressures (diagenesis).
Before being deposited, sediments are formed by weathering of earlier rocks by
erosion in a source area and then transported to the place of deposition by water,
wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers (agents of denudation). About 7.9% of the
crust by volume is composed of sedimentary rocks, with 82% of those being
shales, while the remainder consists of 6% limestone and 12% sandstone and
arkoses. Sedimentary rocks often contain fossils. Sedimentary rocks form under
the influence of gravity and typically are deposited in horizontal or near
horizontal layers or strata and may be referred to as stratified rocks.
Sediment and the particles of clastic sedimentary rocks can be further classified
by grain size. The smallest sediments are clay, followed by silt, sand, and gravel.
Some systems include cobbles and boulders as measurements.

 Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed of

calcium carbonate typically derived from the
remains of fossil animal shells.
Limestone is usually made of the tiny calcite
skeletons of microscopic organisms that once lived in
shallow seas. It dissolves in rainwater more easily
than other rocks. Rainwater picks up a small amount of carbon dioxide during its
passage through the air, and that turns it into a very weak acid. Calcite is
vulnerable to acid. That explains why underground caverns tend to form in
limestone country, and why limestone buildings suffer from acid rainfall. In dry
regions, limestone is a resistant rock that forms some impressive mountains.
Under pressure, limestone changes into marble. Under gentler conditions that are
still not completely understood, the calcite in limestone is altered to dolomite.
The avg. market price of Limestone Slab in India is Rs 150/ Square Feet.

 Travertine
Travertine is a kind of limestone deposited
by springs. It is an odd geological resource
that can be harvested and renewed.
Groundwater traveling through limestone
beds dissolves calcium carbonate, an
environmentally sensitive process that
depends on a delicate balance between
temperature, water chemistry, and carbon
dioxide levels in the air. As the mineral-
saturated water encounters surface conditions, this dissolved matter precipitates
in thin layers of calcite or aragonite—two crystallographic ally different forms of
calcium carbonate (CaCO3). With time, the minerals build up into deposits of
travertine.
The region around Rome produces large travertine deposits that have been
exploited for thousands of years. The stone is solid but has pore spaces and
fossils that give the stone character. The name travertine comes from the ancient
deposits on the Tibur River, hence lapis Tiburtine.
"Travertine" is also sometimes used to mean cave stone, the calcium carbonate
rock that makes up stalactites and other cave formations.
 Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting any rock type—sedimentary rock,
igneous rock, or another older metamorphic rock—to different temperature and
pressure conditions than those in which the original rock was formed. This
process is called metamorphism, meaning to "change in form". The result is a
profound change in physical properties and chemistry of the stone. The original
rock, known as the protolith, transforms into other mineral types or other forms
of the same minerals, by recrystallization. The temperatures and pressures
required for this process are always higher than those found at the Earth's
surface: temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C and pressures greater than 1500
bars. This occurs, for example, when continental plates collide. Metamorphic
rocks compose 27.4% of the crust by volume.
The three major classes of metamorphic rock are based upon the formation
mechanism. An intrusion of magma that heats the surrounding rock causes
contact metamorphism—a temperature-dominated transformation. Pressure
metamorphism occurs when sediments are buried deep under the ground;
pressure is dominant, and temperature plays a smaller role. This is termed burial
metamorphism, and it can result in rocks such as jade. Where both heat and
pressure play a role, the mechanism is termed regional metamorphism. This is
typically found in mountain-building regions.
Depending on the structure, metamorphic rocks are divided into two extensive
categories. Those that possess a texture are referred to as foliated; the remainders
are termed non-foliated. The name of the rock is then determined based on the
types of minerals present. Schists are foliated rocks that are primarily composed
of lamellar minerals such as micas. A gneiss has visible bands of differing
lightness, with a common example being the granite gneiss. Other varieties of
foliated rock include slates, phyllites, and mylonite. Familiar examples of non-
foliated metamorphic rocks include marble, soapstone, and serpentine. This
branch contains quartzite—a metamorphosed form of sandstone—and hornfels.
 Slate

Slate is a fine-grained metamorphic rock that

shows no obvious compositional layering but can
easily be split into thin slabs and plates. It is
usually formed by low-grade regional
metamorphism of mud rock. This mild degree of
metamorphism produces a rock in which the
individual mineral crystals remain microscopic in
size, producing a characteristic slaty cleavage in
which fresh cleavage surfaces appear dull. This
contrasts with the silky cleaved surfaces of
phyllite, which is the next higher grade of metamorphic rock derived from
mudstone. The direction of cleavage is independent of any sedimentary
structures in the original mud rock, reflecting instead the direction of
regional compression.
 Slaty cleavage is continuous, meaning that the individual cleavage planes
are too closely spaced to be discernible in hand samples. The texture of the
slate is totally dominated by these pervasive cleavage planes. Under the
microscope, the slate is found to consist of very thin lenses of quartz and
feldspar (QF-domains) separated by layers of mica (M-domains). These are
typically less than 100 microns thick.

The process of conversion of mud rock to slate involves a loss of up to 50%

of the volume of the mud rock as it is compacted. Grains of platy minerals,
such as clay minerals, are rotated to form parallel layers perpendicular to
the direction of compaction, which begins to impart cleavage to the rock.
Slaty cleavage is fully developed as the clay minerals begin to be converted
to chlorite and mica. Organic carbon in the rock is converted to graphite.

Slate is composed of the mineral’s quartz, iolite, and chlorite, which

account for up to 95% of the composition of the slate. The most important
accessory minerals are iron oxides (such as hematite and magnetite), iron
sulphides (such as pyrite), and carbonate minerals. Feldspar may be present
as albite or, less commonly, orthoclase. Occasionally, as in the purple slates
of North Wales, ferrous (iron (II)) reduction spheres form around iron
nuclei, leaving a light green spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes
deformed by a subsequent applied stress field to ovoid, which appear as
ellipses when viewed on a cleavage plane of the specimen. However, there
is evidence that reduced spots may also form after deformation and acquire
an elliptical shape from preferential infiltration along the cleavage
direction, so caution is required in using reduction ellipsoids to estimate
deformation.

 Marble
 marble, granular limestone
or dolomite (i.e., rock
composed of calcium-
magnesium carbonate)
that has been
recrystallized under the
influence of heat,
pressure, and aqueous
solutions. Commercially,
it includes all decorative calcium-rich rocks that can be polished, as well as
certain serpentines (verd antiques).

Petrographically marbles are massive rather than thin-layered and consist of

a mosaic of calcite grains that rarely show any traces of crystalline form
under the microscope. They are traversed by minute cracks that accord with
the rhombohedral cleavage (planes of fracture that intersect to yield
rhombic forms) of calcite. In the more severely deformed rocks, the grains
show stripes and may be elongated in a particular direction or even crushed.

Marbles often occur interbedded with such metamorphic rocks as mica

schists, phyllites, gneisses, and granulite and are most common in the older
layers of Earth’s crust that have been deeply buried in regions of extreme
folding and igneous intrusion. The change from limestones rich in fossils
into true marbles in such metamorphic regions is a common phenomenon;
occasionally, as at Carrara, Italy, and at Bergen, Norway, recrystallization
of the rock has not completely obliterated the organic structures.

Most of the white and grey marbles of Alabama, Georgia, and western New
England, and that from Yule, Colorado, are recrystallized rocks, as are
several Greek and Italian statuary marbles famous from antiquity, which are
still quarried. These include the Parian marble, the Pentelic marble of Attica
in which Phidias, Praxiteles, and other Greek sculptors executed their
principal works, and the snow-white Carrara marble used by Michelangelo
and Antonio Canova and favoured by modern sculptors. The exterior of the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is of Tennessee marble, and
the Lincoln Memorial contains marbles from Yule, Colorado, Alabama
(roof transparencies), and Georgia (Lincoln statue).
Even the purest of the metamorphic marbles, such as that from Carrara,
contain some accessory minerals, which, in many cases, form a
considerable proportion of the mass. The commonest are quartz in small,
rounded grains, scales of colourless or pale-yellow mica (muscovite and
phlogopite), dark shining flakes of graphite, iron oxides, and small crystals
of pyrite.
Many marbles contain other minerals that are usually silicates of lime or
magnesia. Diopside is very frequent and may be white or pale green; white
bladed tremolite and pale green actinolite also occur; the feldspar
encountered may be a potassium variety but is more commonly a
plagioclase (sodium-rich to calcium-rich) such as albite, labradorite, or
anorthite. Scapolite, various kinds of garnet, vesuvianite, spinel, forsterite,
periclase, brucite, talc, zoisite, wollastonite, chlorite, tourmaline, epidote,
chondrodite, biotite, titanite, and apatite are all possible accessory minerals.
Pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite also may be present in small
amounts.
These minerals represent impurities in the original limestone, which reacted
during metamorphism to form new compounds. The alumina represents an
admixture of clay; the silicates derive their silica from quartz and from
clay; the iron came from limonite, hematite, or pyrite in the original
sedimentary rock. In some cases, the original bedding of the calcareous
sediments can be detected by mineral banding in the marble. The silicate
minerals, if present in any considerable amount, may colour the marble,
e.g., green in the case of green pyroxenes and amphiboles; brown in that of
garnet and vesuvianite; and yellow in that of epidote, chondrodite, and
titanite. Black and grey colours result from the presence of fine scales of
graphite.
Bands of calc-silicate rock may alternate with bands of marble or form
nodules and patches, sometimes producing interesting decorative effects,
but these rocks are particularly difficult to finish because of the enormous
difference in hardness between the silicates and carbonate minerals.
Later physical deformation and chemical decomposition of the
metamorphic marbles often produces attractive coloured and variegated
varieties. Decomposition yields hematite, brown limonite, pale-green talc,
and the green or yellow serpentine derived from forsterite and diopside,
which is characteristic of the ophicalcites or verd antiques. Earth
movements may shatter the rocks, producing fissures that are afterward
filled with veins of calcite; in this way the beautiful brecciated, or veined,
marbles are produced. Sometimes the broken fragments are rolled and
rounded by the flow of marble under pressure.
The so-called onyx marbles consist of concentric zones of calcite or
aragonite deposited from cold-water solutions in caves and crevices and
around the exits of springs. They are, in the strict sense, neither marble nor
onyx, for true onyx is a banded chalcedony composed of silicon dioxide.
Onyx marble was the “alabaster” of the ancients, but alabaster is now
defined as gypsum, a calcium sulphate rock. These marbles are usually
brown or yellow because of the presence of iron oxide. Well-known
examples include the Gallio antico (“antique yellow marble”) of the Italian
antiquaries, the reddish-mottled Siena marble from Tuscany, the large
Mexican deposits at Teocalli near Mexico City and at El Marmol,
California, and the Algerian onyx marble used in the buildings of Carthage
and Rome and rediscovered near Oued-Abdallah in 1849.
Unmetamorphosed limestones showing interesting colour contrasts or fossil
remains are used extensively for architectural purposes. The Palaeozoic
rocks (from 251 million to 542 million years in age) of Great Britain, for
example, include “madrepore marbles” rich in fossil corals and “encrinite
marble” containing crinoid stem and arm plates with characteristic circular
cross sections. The shelly limestones of the Purbeck Beds, England, and the
Sussex marble, both of Mesozoic Era (from 251 million to 65.5 million
years ago), consist of masses of shells of freshwater snails embedded in
blue, grey, or greenish limestone. They were a favourite material of
medieval architects and may be seen in Westminster Abbey and several
English cathedrals. Black limestones containing bituminous matter, which
commonly emit a fetid odour when struck, are widely used; the well-known
petit granite of Belgium is a black marble containing crinoid stem plates,
derived from fossil echinoderms (invertebrate marine animals).

o Uses:

Marbles are used principally for buildings and monuments, interior

decoration, statuary, tabletops, and novelties. Colour and appearance are
their most important qualities. Resistance to abrasion, which is a function
of cohesion between grains as well as the hardness of the component
minerals, is important for floor and stair treads. The ability to transmit light
is important for statuary marble, which achieves its lustre from light
penetrating from about 12.7 to 38 mm (0.5 to 1.5 inches) from where it is
reflected at the surfaces of deeper lying crystals. Brecciated, coloured
marbles, onyx marble, and verd antique are used principally for interior
decoration and for novelties. Statuary marble, the most valuable variety,
must be pure white and of uniform grain size. For endurance in exterior
use, marble should be uniform and nonporous to prevent the entrance of
water that might discolour the stone or cause disintegration by freezing. It
also should be free from impurities such as pyrite that might lead to
staining or weathering. Calcite marbles that are exposed to atmospheric
moisture made acid by its contained carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and
other gases maintain a smooth surface during weathering; but dolomite
limestone may weather with an irregular, sandy surface from which the
dolomite crystals stand out.
The main mineral in marbles is calcite, and this mineral’s variation in
hardness, light transmission, and other properties in diverse directions has
many practical consequences in preparing some marbles. Calcite crystals
are doubly refractive—they transmit light in two directions and lighter in
one direction; slabs prepared for uses in which translucency is significant
are therefore cut parallel to that direction. Bending of marble slabs has been
attributed to the directional thermal expansion of calcite crystals on heating.

o Quarrying
The use of explosives in the quarrying of marble is limited because of the
danger of shattering the rock. Instead, channelling machines that utilize
chisel-edged steel bars make cuts about 5 cm (2 inches) wide and a few
metres deep. Wherever possible, advantage is taken of natural joints already
present in the rock, and cuts are made in the direction of easiest splitting,
which is a consequence of the parallel elongation of platy or fibrous
minerals. The marble blocks outlined by joints and cuts are separated by
driving wedges into drill holes. Mill sawing into slabs is done with sets of
parallel iron blades that move back and forth and are fed by sand and water.
The marble may be machined with lathes and carborundum wheels and is
then polished with increasingly finer grades of abrasive. Even with the most
careful quarrying and manufacturing methods, at least half of the total
output of marble is waste. Some of this material is made into chips for
terrazzo flooring and stucco wall finish. In various localities it is put to
most of the major uses for which high-calcium limestone is suitable.