Sandstone in the construction industry
Sandstone is a significant type of sedimentary rock widely utilized in the construction industry. Composed mainly of sand-sized fragments, its primary constituents are quartz, feldspar, and various cementing materials such as calcium carbonate or silica dioxide. This versatile material is quarried and processed for multiple applications, including the manufacture of bricks, concrete, mortar, and plaster. Sandstone also serves as a crucial resource in industries like glass-making and metallurgy.
Historically, sandstone has been a favored building material, used in many iconic structures across different cultures and periods. It is found globally, with notable varieties like Oriskany sandstone in New York and Saint Peter sandstone in Minnesota, which are economically important for their roles in natural gas reservoirs and glass production. The rock's physical and chemical properties, such as porosity and permeability, play a vital role in its functionality as a resource for oil, natural gas, and freshwater reservoirs. Overall, sandstone's unique characteristics and diverse applications make it a vital component of the construction sector and wider industrial use.
Sandstone in the construction industry
Where Found
Sandstone is found throughout the world. It is probably the most familiar, but not the most abundant, of all rock, that group of rocks composed of consolidated fragments of all sizes.
Primary Uses
Sandstone has numerous uses in the construction industry. It is used to make bricks, concrete, and plaster.
Technical Definition
Sandstone is a rock composed of abundant rounded or angular, sand-size fragments derived by the disintegration of existing rock. The sand fragments are commonly cemented together by calcium carbonate, silica dioxide, or iron oxide.
Description, Distribution, and Forms
In chemical composition, the average sandstone is principally composed of approximately 80 percent silica dioxide, 6 percent aluminum oxide, and 3 percent each calcium and carbon dioxide. Arkose is a sandstone that contains fairly large, angular granules of pink feldspar. In North America two economically significant sandstones are the Oriskany sandstone of New York State and the Saint Peter sandstone of Minnesota. Both these sandstones are important as glass sand and rock.
Sandstones of a wide variety of physical characteristics and compositions are known. While many sandstone classification schemes exist, a common scheme lists four typical varieties. The chief constituent (90 percent or greater) of siliceous sandstone is the mineral quartz, whereas more than 25 percent of arkose is composed of the mineral feldspar. A third variety is graywacke, a heterogeneous mixture of quartz and feldspar surrounded by fine-grained material. In regions of volcanic activity, accumulations of sand-size detritus ejected from active volcanoes form tuffaceous sandstone.
Field studies suggest that sandstone constitutes approximately 30 percent of the three principal types of sedimentary rock, exceeding the abundance of (approximately 20 percent) but less commonly seen than shale (approximately 50 percent).
History
Sandstone has been studied seriously for more than two hundred years, especially in terms of its distribution in rivers. It has been used historically as a building material in many famous structures, from ancient times to the present day.
Obtaining Sandstone
Individual sandstones can be analyzed as to their particular environment of deposition. For instance, the siliceous sandstone variety is indicative of in a low-lying region that experienced intense chemical weathering, while the presence of arkose is suggestive of rapid and deposition in a region lacking severe chemical weathering.
In the geologic study of sandstone, particular emphasis is placed on analyses of physical and chemical properties. A typical review would include the degree of angularity, roundness, sphericity, size, and mineralogy of individual sand-size grains. The manner of sand grain arrangement is helpful in determining the amount of interstices a sandstone may contain (known as porosity) and the amount of fluid that can pass through a volume of sandstone (known as permeability). Porosity and permeability are important in evaluating a sandstone’s potential as an oil, natural gas, or freshwater reservoir.
Uses of Sandstone
As quarried material, sandstone has long been employed in the construction industry. In crushed form, sandstone finds common usage in the manufacture of bricks, concrete, mortar, and plaster and is a primary resource employed in the foundry, abrasive, filter-purification, pottery, metallurgical, and glass-making industries. Indirectly, sandstones are important to society as they commonly form underground reservoirs containing of crude oil, natural gas, or potable groundwater. Tar sand deposits are found in large volumes in Alberta, Canada, and Venezuela. Solid organic material from tar sands can be refined to produce oil similar to liquid petroleum.