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A quarry is a place where rocks, sand, or minerals are extracted from the surface of the Earth. A quarry is a type of mine called an open-pit mine, because it is open to the Earth's surface. Another type of mine, a sub-surface mine, consists of underground tunnels or shafts.
The most common purpose of quarries is to extract stone for building materials. Quarries have been used for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramids with massive limestone and granite blocks cut by hand from nearby quarries. Each of these blocks weighs many tons. In ancient Rome, slaves and criminals were often forced to do the extremely difficult work of cutting stones in marble, granite, and limestone quarries.
Quarrying History
Methods of extracting stone and other materials from quarries have changed since the first quarries were mined in the Aswan area of Egypt. The earliest quarries were mined with hammers, picks, and chisels made of stone or metals such as bronze and iron.
Even communities that did not have stone buildings created quarries. The Lakota culture of the Midwest region of the U.S. and Canada did not quarry stone to build monuments or houses. At a site in Pipestone National Monument, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, they quarried for stones to make calumets, or ceremonial smoking pipes. Calumets, made of a type of metamorphic rock called catlinite or pipestone, were important for creating lasting treaties, or agreements between groups of people.
Quarrying material for use in building materials was much more work. Stones had to be carried or dragged out of quarries manually. Stones could also be hauled with pulley systems involving ropes and moveable wooden tracks or sleds. This process often involved thousands of slaves and other workers.
On Easter Island, for example, almost the entire community had to be involved in the quarrying, carving, and transportation of statues. The rock for these statues, called moai, was hauled all over the island from one quarry. The heaviest moai weighs 86 tons. Scientists are still studying how these ancient Polynesian people transported their quarried rock.
Today, people use mechanical tools to mine quarries, including drilling equipment, blasting equipment, and hauling equipment. Industrial drills with diamond tips are used to cut into hard rock. Some miners use explosives to blast away unwanted material to access the desired rock. Finally, materials are hauled away by enormous mining trucks. Some mining trucks can carry more than 350 tons of material.
Dimension Stones and Aggregate
Different types of stones are mined for different purposes. The two most common types of quarry material are dimension stones and aggregate.
Large, precisely cut stones excavated from a quarry are called dimension stones. Dimension stones are used for constructing buildings and monuments, or for decorating the outside of buildings. They are also used for kitchen counters and roofing shingles. Headstones, polished dimension stones usually made of granite, are used to mark graves in many countries.
Sand, gravel or crushed rock excavated from a quarry is called aggregate. Aggregate is used in construction to create stable foundations for things like roads and railroad tracks.
Aggregate is also used to make concrete and asphalt. For this reason, asphalt and concrete plants are often built next to quarries. Asphalt is an oily substance that is mixed with aggregate for road construction. Concrete, invented by the ancient Romans, is a mixture of sticky stone cement and aggregate. The Romans depended on concrete and aggregate to build their vast system of roads and aqueducts, many of which are still standing today.
Quarries and the Environment
Quarries change their environment. They displace huge amounts of soil and plants, and force animals out of the area. Abandoned quarries rarely leave enough soil to allow life to return to the area.
Some abandoned quarries can fill with water, creating artificial lakes. Many of these lakes are clear and deep, creating a safe swimming environment for people and some aquatic animals, such as frogs and birds. Sometimes, however, lakes created by abandoned quarries have mining equipment left on the bottom, making them unsafe for swimming. Toxic materials exposed by mining activities can also leak into water at abandoned quarries.
Quarries are prone to flooding because they are sometimes dug below the water table. Environmentalists fear the toxic materials could seep into groundwater if an abandoned quarrys water reaches an areas water table. This is the concern surrounding the Berkeley Pit, a former copper quarry near Butte, Montana. The Berkeley Pit is one of the largest toxic waste sites in the U.S., and its water is within 61 meters (200 feet) of the areas water table.
To avoid contamination, miners must sometimes pump water out of quarries. Quarries are sealed from the surrounding water table. Abandoned quarries can also be turned into landfills.
Marble from the quarries of Carrara, Italy, can be found in the Marble Arch, London; Manila Cathedral, Philippines; and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, United Arab Emirates.
Photograph by Karl Henrik Nymo, MyShot
Miami Mine
The largest quarry in the United States is in Miami, Florida. It is owned by the Rinker Materials Corporation. The limestone quarry, which includes a cement plant, supplies building materials to engineers all over the world.
Stonehenge
Nearly 5,000 years after prehistoric engineers built the mysterious circle in the south of England, the rocks that make up Stonehenge continue to fascinate people around the world.
Scientists have determined that the largest of Stonehenge's sandstone blocks, each weighing about 25 tons, were hauled 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from where they were quarried. The structure's smaller stones, called bluestones, were hauled from a quarry 233 kilometers (145 miles) away, in modern-day Wales. Ancient workers transported the bluestones from quarry to Stonehenge by dragging, carrying, and floating them on rafts.
abandoned
Adjective
deserted.
aggregate
Noun
sand, gravel, or crushed rock excavated from a quarry.
ancient Egypt
Noun
civilization in northeastern Africa, lasting from 3200 BCE to about 400 CE.
ancient Rome
Noun
civilization founded on the Mediterranean Sea, lasting from the 8th century BCE to about 476 CE.
aquatic
Adjective
having to do with water.
aqueduct
Noun
a pipe or passage used for carrying water from a distance.
asphalt
Noun
chemical compound made of dark, solid rocks and minerals often used in paving roads.
avoid
Verb
to stay away from something.
Berkeley Pit
Noun
large, abandoned copper mine in Butte, Montana.
bird
Noun
egg-laying animal with feathers, wings, and a beak.
blast
Verb
to break up by use of an explosion.
bluestone
Noun
small or mid-size stone at Stonehenge.
bronze
Noun
metal made of the elements copper and tin.
calumet
Noun
long tobacco pipe used by some Native American tribes at ceremonies.
carve
Verb
to cut or slice through.
cement
Noun
hard material used as a building material or a binding agent for stronger building materials such as concrete.
cemetery
Noun
place for burying the dead.
chisel
Noun
metal tool with a sharp, wedge-shaped edge used for carving.
community
Noun
group of organisms or a social group interacting in a specific region under similar environmental conditions.
concrete
Noun
hard building material made from mixing cement with rock and water.
construct
Verb
to build or erect.
contaminate
Verb
to poison or make hazardous.
copper
Noun
chemical element with the symbol Cu.
diamond
Noun
type of crystal that is pure carbon and the hardest known natural substance.
dimension stone
Noun
large, precisely cut stone excavated from a quarry.
displace
Verb
to remove or force to evacuate.
drilling equipment
Noun
machinery and tools used to dig into the Earth.
Noun
our planet, the third from the Sun. The Earth is the only place in the known universe that supports life.
engineer
Noun
person who plans the building of things, such as structures (construction engineer) or substances (chemical engineer).
enormous
Adjective
very large.
enslaved person
Noun
person who is owned by another person or group of people.
environment
Noun
conditions that surround and influence an organism or community.
excavate
Verb
to expose by digging.
explosive
Noun
material that can quickly and violently expand due to a chemical change.
extract
Verb
to pull out.
fascinate
Verb
to cause an interest in.
foundation
Noun
structure on which a building is constructed.
frog
Noun
animal (amphibian) with smooth skin and long hind legs for jumping.
granite
Noun
type of hard, igneous rock.
grave
Noun
specific place where a body is buried.
haul
Verb
to move or transport something heavy.
hauling equipment
Noun
machinery and tools used for transporting heavy material.
headstone
Noun
stone used to mark a grave. Also called a gravestone.
industrial
Adjective
having to do with factories or mechanical production.
Lakota
Noun
people and culture of seven Sioux tribes native to the Great Plains.
landfill
Noun
site where garbage is layered with dirt and other absorbing material to prevent contamination of the surrounding land or water.
limestone
Noun
type of sedimentary rock mostly made of calcium carbonate from shells and skeletons of marine organisms.
manually
Adverb
done without electronic or mechanical equipment.
marble
Noun
type of metamorphic rock.
massive
Adjective
very large or heavy.
mechanical
Adjective
having to do with machinery or automated tools.
metamorphic rock
Noun
rock that has transformed its chemical qualities from igneous or sedimentary.
Midwest
Noun
area of the United States consisting of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
mineral
Noun
inorganic material that has a characteristic chemical composition and specific crystal structure.
moai
Noun
very large stone figures carved and displayed on Easter Island.
monument
Noun
large structure representing an event, idea, or person.
open-pit mine
Noun
place where rocks, sand, or minerals are extracted from the surface of the Earth.
pick
Noun
tool resembling a hammer, with at least one end pointed, used for carving stone.
plant
Noun
building and equipment used for manufacturing or a type of industry.
Polynesia
Noun
island group in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island.
precise
Adjective
exact.
prehistoric
Adjective
period of time that occurred before the invention of written records.
prone
Adjective
vulnerable or tending to act in a certain way.
pulley
Noun
wheel with a rope, band, or cable running around it used to generate power or transport goods over short distances.
Pyramids
Plural Noun
three large pyramids outside Giza, Egypt: the Pyramid of Khufu (2560 B.C.E.), the Pyramid of Khafre (2532 B.C.E.) and the Pyramid of Menkaure (2515 B.C.E.). Also called the Pyramids of Giza.
railroad
Noun
road constructed with metal tracks on which trains travel.
rock
Noun
natural substance composed of solid mineral matter.
roofing shingle
Noun
piece of tough material used in overlapping layers to protect a roof.
sand
Noun
small, loose grains of disintegrated rocks.
seep
Verb
to slowly flow through a border.
sled
Noun
vehicle used to travel across ice or snow, consisting of a flat platform mounted on blades called runners.
stable
Adjective
steady and reliable.
stone
Noun
piece of rock.
sub-surface mine
Noun
place where rocks, sand, or minerals are extracted from the Earth through deep tunnels.
toxic
Adjective
poisonous.
toxic waste
Noun
chemical compound dangerous to humans and their environment.
transport
Verb
to move material from one place to another.
Noun
underground area where the Earth's surface is saturated with water. Also called water level.
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