Sandstone

Harris, P.M.

Sandstone

Harris, P.M.. 1977 Sandstone. London, UK, HMSO, 42pp. (Mineral Dossier No. 17)

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Abstract/Summary

Sandstones are consolidated sandy sedimentary rocks the grain size of which falls within defined limits. Generally they are composed largely of detrital quartz. Such rocks are widespread in the United Kingdom although their exploitation is largely confined to the central Pennines, Warwickshire, Northern Ireland, parts of Wales, north Devon and southern Scotland. Traditionally, sandstone was used for building stone and pavements but this outlet has declined over the last fifty years and the material is now used overwhelmingly as crushed stone aggregate. Minor amounts are used in the important industries producing refractories, foundry sand etc. These 'special sands', together with other sources of silica are noted here in passing but will be described in detail in another dossier entitled Silica. In general, road surfacing material and good concrete aggregate is produced from pre-Devonian sandstone throughout the country and from pre-Permian sandstone in south-west England and South Wales. The Carboniferous sandstones in northern England in general produce material which meets less demanding aggregate specifications. In 1973 estimated consumption of crushed rock natural aggregates in Great Britain (limestone, igneous rock and sandstone) was 126M tonnes of which 14M tonnes was contributed by sandstone. Although sandstone is of secondary importance nationally as a source of aggregate, it becomes important in areas where other materials are not readily available or where those varieties with outstanding skid-resistance are exploited for road surfacing. Sandstone is mainly produced in medium sized quarries few of which exceed 1M tonnes per annum. The growth of the industry in recent years has led to environmental problems which are common to most aggregate producers. These include landscape intrusion, air and ground vibration caused by blasting, noise and dust from processing plant and difficulties in accommodating large volumes of mineral traffic on minor roads.

Item Type:

Publication - Report

Programmes:

BGS Programmes > Economic Minerals

Funders/Sponsors:

Institute of Geological Sciences

Additional Keywords:

Mineral, Sandstone

NORA Subject Terms:

Earth Sciences

Date made live:

05 Aug 2025 09:54 +0 (UTC)