USES OF LIMESTONE

Dimension Stone: Limestone is often cut into blocks and slabs of specific dimensions for use in
construction and in architecture. It is used for facing stone, floor tiles, stair treads, window sills,
and many other purposes.

Roofing Granules: Crushed to a fine particle size, crushed limestone is used as a weather and
heat-resistant coating on asphalt-impregnated shingles and roofing. It is also used as a top coat
on built-up roofs.

Portland Cement: Limestone is heated in a kiln with shale, sand, and other materials and ground
to a powder that will harden after being mixed with water.

Animal Feed Filler: Chickens need calcium carbonate to produce strong egg shells, so calcium
carbonate is often offered to them as a dietary supplement in the form of "chicken grits." It is also
added to the feed of some dairy cattle who must replace large amounts of calcium lost when the
animal is milked.

Mine Safety Dust: Also known as "rock dust." Pulverized limestone is a white powder that can be
sprayed onto exposed coal surfaces in an underground mine. This coating improves illumination
and reduces the amount of coal dust that activity stirs up and releases into the air. This improves
the air for breathing, and it also reduces the explosion hazard produced by suspended particles
of flammable coal dust in the air.
 What is a Limestone?
Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms
such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite,
which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate.

Characteristics

 Chemical and Mechanical Weathering

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, together with sulfur and nitrogen oxides in polluted urban and
industrial regions, dissolves in rainwater and groundwater to form weak acids. These acids react
with carbonates in the limestone and dissolve the rock, forming sinkholes and caves. Limestone is
also subject to mechanical weathering, especially in dry climates, by the abrasive action of wind
carrying rock fragments and other debris. This combination of chemical and mechanical
weathering makes limestone very vulnerable to deterioration when exposed to the atmosphere.

 Porosity and Fractures

Limestone formed through the accumulation of shells and skeletal material has a high initial
porosity -- a term referring to the voids between the solid fragments. This porosity decreases with
compaction over time as more material is deposited and fragments cement together. Acidic water
from the atmosphere or ground dissolves some of this compacted material, creating a secondary
porosity. Earth movement over geological time causes the limestone to fracture. Acidic water
ingress further enlarges the fractures. When exposed, this dissolution effect appears on the
surface as a network of fissures and sinkholes called karst.

 Clastic and Nonclastic

There are two principal types of sedimentary rock: clastic, or detrital -- which is made up of small
rock fragments -- and nonclastic, also called chemical and inorganic. Clastic limestone is made up
of biogenic grains, or clasts, rather than eroded rock fragments, as in the case of sandstones. Such
biogenic clasts are shell or bone fragments from dead marine organisms and accumulate by
sinking to the bottom of the sea or any other body of water. They also grow in marine
environments such as coral reefs. Nonclastic limestone, such as travertines, forms through the
precipitation of carbonate crystals in shallow waters and in groundwater, the latter forming
stalagmites and stalactites in caves.