Brookville Quarry EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(not chosen)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This is a working lime quarry that opperates 5 days a week so please use caution. You may have to park at a nearby business , due to the heavy trucks entering and exiting the quarry. When gate is closed do not enter the quarry.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate(CaCO3). Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera.
Limestone makes up about 10% of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.
Limestone has numerous uses: as a building material, as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paints, and as a chemical feedstock.
Like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts, andextraclasts. These organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind after the organisms die.
Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert (chalcedony, flint, jasper, etc.) or siliceous skeletal fragment (sponge spicules, diatoms, radiolarians), and varying amounts of clay, silt and sand (terrestrial detritus) carried in by rivers.
Some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i.e.travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters (groundwater that precipitates the material in caves). This produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular (oolite) appearance.
The primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, building upon past generations. Below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters (see lysocline). Limestones may also form in both lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments.[2][3]
Calcite can be either dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ionconcentrations. Calcite exhibits an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases.
Because of impurities, such as clay, sand, organic remains, iron oxide and other materials, many limestones exhibit different colors, especially onweathered surfaces.
Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock. When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures.
Brookville Manufacturing Company:
The quarry contains a large deposit of Calcite Limestone that produces material for Agriculture ,Residential use ,Industrial Construction and Horticulture.
The quarrying of limestone has been an integral part of the history and development of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
In 1920 a crusher was installed here and produced a large quanity of lime for farmers to spread on there fields for the purpose of sweetening their soil, and for the first time farmers had an inexpensive source of ground limestone available.
.
From this beginning the Brookville Manufacturing Company grew until in the late 1940's it was considered to be one of the largest manufacturers of crushed limestone in Canada with 90,000 tons being shipped in 1948 alone. A major modernization project was initiated with a redesigned lime plant being put into production late in 1975. Since then several modifications have been made to further enhance production and decrease the environmental impact of its operation.
To log this earth cache you must visit the area and email me the answers to the following questions.
1. At the narrowest point of the entrance, estimate the width of the rock cut and the height of the rock wall.
2. The rock at the entrance is not suitable for production of lime, what makes this rock not suitable?
3. The size of your group.
4. A picture is optional but would be appreciatted.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)