C1aL4 Extraction of Limestone

Key Words

Blasting - using explosives to dislodge rocks;

Calcium carbonate - the main mineral in limestone;

Extraction - (1) digging out of the ground; (2) removing a metal from its ore;

Limestone - a rock made out of calcium carbonate (and other minerals;

Quarry - a big hole in the ground, where rocks are dug out.

Grade E

Limestone is a rock whose main mineral is calcium carbonate, CaCO₃.  It is found extensively throughout the world.  St Neots and its surrounding countryside has limestone as its main rock type.  Mount Everest (8868 m) is limestone, and you can find fossils there. 

Limestone rocks were made when corals grew in shallow warm seas millions of years ago.  Calcium carbonate can be slowly dissolved by water, so that caves are formed.  Yellow limestone is that colour because it has iron minerals in it.

In this picture, you can see where limestone is extracted by blasting in a quarry.  It is processed in a cement works.   Uses of limestone are:

• making cement;

• glass manufacture;

• extraction of iron.

Grade C

Making new quarries is always controversial. 

The advantages are:

• jobs;
• improved roads;
• more money in the area, leading to better facilities.

The disadvantages are:

• quarry can be an eyesore;
• dust from the quarry;
• noise from blasting;
• heavy lorry traffic.

Some of these can be resolved by:

• restricted working hours;
• use of rail to transport the minerals;
• restoration of the landscape when mining has stopped.
• have fewer but bigger quarries.

Grade A

Some calcium carbonate rocks are more useful than others.  Chalk is very weak.  As a building material, it is worse than useless. 

The Peak District of Derbyshire has a good quality of limestone, which can be used for many purposes.  It also has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the entire country.  Therefore quarrying has to be strictly controlled using planning regulations.