Limestone Aggregate Crushing

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed mostly of the mineral calcite and comprising about 15% of the Earth’s sedimentary crust. Limestone is the main source of the material lime. It is a basic building block of the construction industry (dimension stone) and a chief material from which aggregate, cement, lime, and building stone are made.

Limestones Types

• Bituminous limestone
• Carboniferous Limestone
• Coquina – A sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of fragments of shells
• Coral rag
• Chalk – A soft, white, porous sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate
• Fossiliferous limestone
• Lithographic limestone
• Oolite – Sedimentary rock formed from ooids
• Rag-stone – Work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces
• Shelly limestone
• Travertine – A form of limestone deposited by mineral springs
• Tufa – Porous limestone rock formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of ambient temperature water

Limestones’s Colors

Pure limestone is gray, off-white, and light colors, while limestone containing much organic matter is gray-black.

Formation of Limestone

Calcium carbonate deposited in lakes and seas is compacted and cemented after losing water, called limestone. The mineral composition of limestone is mainly calcite (accounting for more than 50%) and some impurities such as clay and silt. The formation of the vast majority of limestone is related to biological action. The limestone formed by the accumulation of biological remains includes coral limestone, shell limestone, algae limestone, etc., collectively called biological limestone. Limestone formed by the chemical precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in an aqueous solution is called chemical limestone, such as ordinary, siliceous, etc.

Limestone Composition

The main component of limestone is calcite, accompanied by dolomite, magnesite, and other carbonate minerals, and some other impurities are also mixed. Magnesium appears in the form of limestone and magnesite. Silicon oxide is free quartz. Chalcedony & opal are distributed in rocks. Aluminum oxide is combined with silicon oxide to form aluminum silicate (clay, feldspar, mica). Iron compounds are in the form of carbon salt (magnesite), pyrite (pyrite), free oxides (magnetite, hematite), and hydroxides (hydrous goethite). In addition, there is glauconite, and individual types of limestone also contain organic matter such as coal and asphalt, sulfates such as gypsum and anhydrite, compounds of phosphorus and calcium, alkali metal compounds, strontium, barium, manganese, titanium, fluorine, etc. compounds, but at very low levels.