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Recognising the different types of building stone
Published in John A. Hudson†, John W. Cosgrove, Understanding Building Stones and Stone Buildings, 2019
John A. Hudson†, John W. Cosgrove
The fourth example limestone is Ancaster stone, an oolitic Jurassic limestone from Lincoln-shire, this being our most northern illustrative limestone example. The term ‘oolitic’ means containing ooliths—which are small, spherical, calcium carbonate particles of the order of 0.25–2 mm diameter. The term derives from the Greek for ‘egg’ and the oolites form by the precipitation of calcium carbonate around a small fragment of a shell or sand grain. Water currents can form cross-bedding in these oolites in exactly the same way as they do in sandstones (see Section 3.5.3) and it is the cross-bedding that gives the Ancaster stone its characteristic texture, e.g., Figures 3.41 and 3.42. Like many of the building stones in Britain, this limestone has been used for centuries by the Romans and Saxons through to the present day. The stone can be found in all the principal churches in Norwich, and has been used for the church and castle at Newark, and in buildings in Cambridge.
Minerals and rocks
Published in A.C. McLean, C. D. Gribble, Geology for Civil Engineers, 2017
Classification of some limestones can be represented by means of a simple triangular diagram (Fig. 2.34; cf. Fig. 2.33) in which the four main mineral components (ooliths, shell and other animal remains, ‘rock’ or ‘lithic’ fragments including calcareous granules and fragments of calcitic mudstones, and carbonate muds) represent the apices. Calc-wackes are richer in carbonate muds than the other types. Bioclastic limestones include shelly limestones, and oolites are composed of ooliths, which are minute, layered spherules of calcite deposited around a nucleus of shell or mineral grain. Reef limestones, which are framework limestones composed only of organic remains (corals, algae, etc.), are plotted at the ‘skeletal remains’ apex in Figure 2.34. Marl is a term used to describe some friable carbonate earths deposited in freshwater lakes. Figure 2.35 gives the classification of marls and their commercial uses. Tufa and travertine are limestones formed by evaporation of spring or river waters. Travertine is widely used as indoor cladding panels. Chalk is a friable porous calcium carbonate rock found in thick deposits which contain chert or flint nodules.
Sedimentary Rocks
Published in F.G.H. Blyth, M. H. de Freitas, A Geology for Engineers, 2017
F.G.H. Blyth, M. H. de Freitas
Calcium carbonate is present in the form of crystals of calcite or aragonite, as amorphous calcium carbonate, and also as the hard parts of organisms (fossils) such as shells and calcareous skeletons, or their broken fragments (Fig. 6.2). Thus, a consolidated shell-sand (table 6.2) is a limestone by virtue of the calcium carbonate of which the shells are made. On the other hand, chemically deposited calcium carbonate builds limestones (e.g. oolites) under conditions where water of high alkalinity has a restricted circulation, as in a shallow sea or lake. Non-calcareous constituents commonly present in limestones include clay, silica in colloidal form or as quartz grains or as parts of siliceous organisms, and other hard detrital grains. Though usually grey or white in colour, the rock may be tinted, e.g. by iron compounds or finely divided carbon, or by bitumen. Common types of limestone are now described.
Effective poroelastic properties of N-layered composite sphere assemblage: An application to oolitic limestone
Published in European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, 2023
H.T. Trieu, N.B. Nguyen, M.N. Vu, T.T.N. Nguyen, N.H. Tran, D.T. Pham, T. Nguyen-Sy
Second, the present model is applied to describe the effective poroelastic properties of the Anstrude oolitic limestone (Bourgogne, France) from its microstructure and the properties of its constitution. The microstructure observation shows generally that the considered limestone is the formation of concentric ooids (oolitic grain) nearly spherical coated by a thin layer (interphase) with high porosity and then a matrix (sparite and micrite) (Lion, 2004; Lion, Ledésert, et al., 2004). Many studies in the literature on various limestones have shown the similar microstructure (Chen et al., 2017; Fabre & Gustkiewicz, 1997; Ghabezloo et al., 2009; Gourri, 1991; Hart & Wang, 1995). Therefore, the four-phase CSA model is quite suitable for this microstructure of the oolitic limestone. Moreover, the CSA model is also appropriated for materials containing intermediate and large volume fractions of grains when estimating their poroelastic properties, such as the case of the limestone (Chen et al., 2017; Giraud et al., 2012; Nguyen et al., 2011). Besides, Ooid, interphase and surrounding matrix are porous media, i.e. they are all constituted by pores and solid. Hence, two-step homogenisation is proposed to upscale the effective poroelastic properties of the limestone. At the first step (called also micro-meso transition/upscaling), the differential self-consistent scheme is used to determine the properties of three phases: oolitic grain, interphase, and matrix. At the second step (called also meso-macro transition/upscaling), three phases oolite, interphase and embedding matrix are homogenised in the framework of the four-phase CSA model. Comparison with measurement of the poroelastic properties of the limestone performed by Lion (2004) and Lion, Ledésert, et al. (2004) show the accuracy of the proposed model.