All these types of granite material are used for different purposes:
- from granite blocks construction projects and monuments are being erected;
- slabs used in the exterior and basement of buildings, as well as wall coverings and indoors;
- - for paving streets and roads;
- crushed stone and crumbs applicable in finishing works, decoration and landscape design (), used in the production of concrete to achieve high strength indicators.
Granite finishing can transform any building, both inside and out. Using granite stones in a variety of shades, ranging from deep red to pearl gray, designers have successfully used the mineral for interior design. Properly combining it with wood, metal or ceramics, they create amazing objects - mirrored countertops for the kitchen, summerhouses, flower beds in the style of a Japanese rock garden, monumental polished stairs and other masterpieces.
A little about stone processing
As mentioned above, despite the hardness of natural rock, it is quite easy to process, and therefore the question “what can be made from granite” has dozens of solutions. It can be cut, the surface of the stone can be modified by grinding to the desired state, and also played with shades - made lighter or darker, for which special processing technologies are used.
Untreated stone looks natural and absorbs light well, but polished and polished slabs to a mirror shine highlight the advantages of this material and the beauty of mica inclusions. When processing rock by chipping, an interesting relief is obtained with an artificial effect of play of chiaroscuro, and some varieties of gray stone after heat treatment receive a milky white hue.
This stone has attracted people since ancient times, but now with the improvement of stone processing technologies, the use of granite in the construction of administrative buildings and private houses has become even more accessible.
The use of granite since ancient times has had not only aesthetic value, but also a functional side. Today, the stone is polished, ground, the surface of the processed samples has many names - polished, sawn, bush hammered. For certain purposes, the stone is processed by fire. And all this variety of granite materials serves people conscientiously.
Stone makes the most durable, practical countertops and window sills, which are also quite original due to the texture and color of the mineral. There are even fashion trends associated with cladding with this material. If smooth surfaces were once popular, today textured elements are in use. They stipulated the use of granite as a floor covering to prevent shoes from slipping. Walls with textured designs are also in fashion; this gives the interior a rich look and sets the main tone for the style solution.
It is clear that granite’s properties and areas of application are interconnected. Thus, the hygiene of the stone and its moisture resistance make it possible to create sinks and bathtubs from it. In addition, the mineral has high heat resistance, which is only a plus for the material used for such premises. Stone gives a person comfort and aesthetics in everyday life.
And yet, the main thing for which he has been loved for centuries is his presentability. Majestic staircases, magnificent sculpture, harmonious borders and paving stones, monumental structures made of granite have been created and will continue to be created as long as the mineral is formed in nature, as long as reserves of this unique “eternal” stone allow.
The word granite is of Latin origin. The concept is translated as “granule”. The rock got its name due to its granular structure. Mineral granules in stone can be large or small.
The first option is a consequence of the slow cooling of hot mineral masses under the Earth's surface. The second case, on the contrary, is evidence of rapid rock hardening. It underlies almost all continents, being the most widespread non-metallic matter on the planet.
Physical and chemical properties of granite
The solidity of the rock makes it possible to cut large blocks. Therefore, architects and sculptors often choose stone for large-scale projects, creating, for example, granite monuments. The rock is well polished. It is non-porous, which prevents the material from absorbing moisture and cracking from external influences. Granite does not care about temperature changes. It is also resistant to corrosion.
The physical properties of granite are influenced by its structure. Fine-grained samples are denser. They are easier to polish and more durable. Coarse-grained rock wears out faster. Climbers and rock climbers especially do not like it. They know that the stone granules can be so obvious that their knees and hands bleed. So, knowledgeable people climb granite rocks wearing gloves, knee pads, and special shoes.
The rock composition includes: quartz, orthoclase, mica. Their number ranges from 20 to 70 percent. The remaining percentages include dozens of other minerals. Their selection depends on the place of formation of the stone.
Since granite is an acidic rock, it contains small amounts of cerium, lanthanum and other rare earth elements. All of them do not give radioactive background to granite. The level of radiation is usually negligible and not dangerous to humans. However, to be sure, geologists check the deposits to be developed.
Specialists drill holes in the material, lower a dosimeter into them, and give the green light or permission to mine the stone. Regardless of its composition, granite cannot be compressed. This ensures the eternal service of the stone to people, but complicates its processing. Marble, for example, is much more flexible.
Staining and color of granite
Granite stone has different shades. The color is determined by the amount of orthoclase in the rock. This mineral belongs to the category of feldspars. It comes in a variety of colors, but is always found only in acidic igneous rocks.
In accordance with orthoclase, granite is often grayish in tone, less often orangeish, pinkish, reddish, with a hint of blue or green. The final colors are given not by orthoclase, but by biotite and hornblende.
Sometimes quartz also affects the color of granite. Usually, it is colorless, but there is a rock with a pink variety of the mineral. It is called amethyst. It is known as an ornamental stone. There are granites with black quartz and its blue variety. Highest granite price exactly a bluish-gray tone.
Granite deposits
Almost 110 granite deposits are taken into account in Russia. There is also that same blue breed in our country. It is mined in the Murmansk region at the Serebryansky quarry. It is worth noting that 100 deposits are recorded in the country’s reserves.
But dozens more deposits have been explored and are listed on the balance sheet of only regional geological services. So, in fact, Russia’s granite reserves number about 200 deposits. They mostly contain granite of white and reddish tones. The latter is called Ural granite. There is even a brand of the same name. Her specialization is ceramic granite. The company produces tiles on a large scale.
The world leader in the production of granite products is not Russia. Italy has the championship. The deposits are concentrated in Sardinia. This island gives the world a pink, amethyst rock. The same type is mined in Sweden, but on a smaller scale.
Half of the volume of stone on the Eurasian continent is mined by the British. More than a hundred varieties of the breed are available in France. Spain is famous for its light gray fine-grained granite. Finland specializes in the export of granite blocks. This country supplies the world with approximately 80,000 cubic meters of rock per year.
By the way, the third highest mountain in the world is made of granite. The peak is called Kanchenjunga. The height of the mountain is 8586 meters. The peak is located in the Himalayas and is only 262 meters behind Everest.
Applications of granite
Granite is a building material. Buildings made from it do not collapse for thousands of years. Buildings only lined with stone are less durable. Granite is used to make paving slabs, ceramic slabs for floors and interior decoration. The material is considered elite in the world of furniture. The breed is used for tabletops, parts of armchairs, sofas, and bar counters. Granite is used to make crafts and decorative items, for example, vases.
Granite is especially often used in kitchen interiors. Lovers of natural stone usually choose between marble and granite. But, marble is less resistant to chemical attack. Granite does not react with almost any substances. This is especially important for kitchens.
Granite curbs decorate many embankments. Sculptures and monuments are carved from stone. Buy granite strive for the construction of hydraulic structures. All data on granite can be easily found in the literature. The most complete scientific work is “Geology of Granite” by E. Ragen. A distinctive feature of the book is its simple language. The publication is easy to understand even for non-specialists.
Granite stone is not just the most common rock on Earth. Granite stone, the properties of which have long become a model for the formation of a male character, personifies power, inflexibility, strength, and timelessness.Minerologists, of course, are well aware that granite is not an eternal mineral, and it was the granites destroyed by weathering that formed the basis for the formation of soils. Nevertheless, in the general human perception, this stone symbolizes pathos, greatness, and reliability.
Granite boulders of national parks, granite walls of thousand-year-old castles, granite paving stones of ancient pavements. And also granite monuments of history and culture; steles and statues carved from beautiful stone, huge monoliths and small colored chips... Granite is the most useful mineral!
Granite - from the word granum (“grain”)
All granite is grainy. Its origin is associated with volcanic processes. Magmatic melts, which absorb small fragments of previously destroyed rocks, turn into granites when cooling. Metamorphic processes leading to sintering and partial melting of fragments also lead to the appearance of granite.It is often impossible to understand what kind of genesis is inherent in a particular granite massif, but regardless of origin, the physical properties of granite are the same.
Strength is an important distinguishing feature of a mineral. The stone can withstand pressure of more than 600 kilograms of load per 1 cm2 of surface. Granite is also characterized by high density. A centimeter cube of stone is three times heavier than the same volume of water.
The hardness of granite (up to 7 Mohs points) is ensured by the presence of quartz in the mineral composition. It is quartz that helps the stone withstand huge (more than 100˚) temperature changes. However, the thermal resistance of granite due to the same quartz is reduced: the stone melts when heated to only 700˚C - which did not allow granite structures of antiquity to withstand severe fires.
However, the performance characteristics of granite are considered high enough for the construction of the most pretentious buildings. It has been experimentally established that fine-grained granite exhibits the best properties. If the grain of the stone does not exceed two millimeters in diameter, architects and builders can easily find a use for this excellent natural material!
Applications of granite
The heaviness of granite products limits the use of stone in mass modern construction. However, in individually designed residential and public buildings, granite steps and window sills, interior and architectural elements, paving and cladding can be used.Our distant ancestors were also partial to beautiful and durable stone. Granite buildings in Machu Picchu, creations of ancient Egyptian architecture, massive structures of ancient Europeans pose difficult questions for historians. It is still unclear how our ancestors managed to process a stone that can only be processed with a diamond tool?
In modern conditions, granite has become a mass construction material, but not in the form of slabs and blocks, but as a concrete filler, ballast material for railway embankments, and crushed stone underlying the asphalt layer.
Pavements made of granite blocks are also irreplaceable. Only streets paved with natural stone remain on the steep mountain slopes. Asphalt flows under such conditions.
The desire to imitate everything and everyone led humanity to the creation of porcelain stoneware. Mineral components mixed with the polymer mass have nothing in common with natural granite. However, some external similarity is observed...
Granite can be beautiful
More precisely, granite is never ugly. Even the most ordinary gray granite is an excellent material, in demand by both architects and sculptors. Inclusions of various minerals give shades to the gray stone.Hornblende causes the mineral to darken, turning brownish-green. Amazonite granite is famous for its light green hue. Black quartz granite is solemn and strict. The amethyst granites of Sweden reflect purple and pink.
Mining of colored granite is carried out everywhere. The rarest blue granites are exported from the north of Europe. Red porphyry granite, mined in areas of volcanic activity that died out millions of years ago, is sold in the most expensive and pompous construction projects. Black granite is a favorite material of sculpture workshops around the world.
From ancient times to the present day, marble and granite have symbolized the power and wealth of those in power. The symbolism of the stone does not lose its meaning and does not change its content for dozens of centuries! However, many legends concerning granite have been born in our time.
Myths about granite
It is generally accepted that granite is expensive. In fact, man-made mineral-polymer stone has a higher retail price than common varieties of granite. Although rare and beautifully colored varieties of natural stone - especially in large monoliths - can exceed the cost of any building materials.There is an opinion that graininess, cracking and porosity are defects of granite. And that the user of a granite product is doomed to spend the rest of his life on constant and continuous care for the polished stone. In reality, even the most moisture-intensive types of granite can handle treatment with hydrophobic resins once every ten to twenty years.
The tendency of granite to crack under the influence of high temperatures is also exaggerated. If granite were thermally unstable, its weathering would take place over several years. In fact, the natural destruction of stone sometimes lasts for many millennia. In landscape photos, the granite of rocks, boulders and cliffs often appears to us in its original form. So at home, a hot frying pan placed on a granite countertop will not do any harm.
The level of radioactive radiation in granite is also considered dangerous. The natural background of the stone actually exceeds the radiation level in the clearing of the birch grove by approximately twice. However, this is exactly half the level allowed by sanitary standards.
Granite (from Latin granum - granule, grain) is a widespread intrusive igneous rock of acidic composition. An effusive analogue of granite is liparite. The presence of a granite layer is the key difference between the continental and oceanic crust.
The color of granites is light, due mainly to the color of feldspars: light gray, yellowish, pink, reddish. The structure is granular (uniform-grained or uneven-grained), and can be coarse-grained, medium-grained, fine-grained, fine-grained. Density 2.54-2.78 g/cm3. Hardness on the Mohs scale 5-7. Compressive strength reaches 300 MPa. Melting point 1260ºС.
Features. Granite is characterized by a granular structure, high hardness (leaves a scratch on glass), content of feldspar and quartz, light color, and low density. Granite is very similar to syenite and nepheline syenite. The difference is that in syenite and nepheline syenite there is no quartz; difference from nepheline syenite in the absence of nepheline.
Composition and photo of granite
Mineralogical composition of granite. It mainly consists of feldspar 60-65%, a lot of quartz 25-35%, mica 5-10% is present in small quantities, and sometimes hornblende. Dark-colored minerals (hornblende, biotite) make up approximately 5-10% of the rock.
Chemical composition. SiO 2 68-72%, Al 2 O 3 15-18%, Na 2 O 3-6%, Fe 3 O 4 1-5%, CaO 1.5-4%, MgO up to 1.5%, etc.
Varieties:Granite-rapakivi(rotten stone) – granite with large grains of feldspars. Structure: coarse-grained.
Granite Granite stones Granite-rapakivi cut
Origin of granite
Granite is an intrusive igneous rock. Granitic magmatism is characteristic of collision zones of continental plates, where the thickness of the continental crust increases. Granites can also be formed due to the recrystallization of sedimentary and other rocks under the influence of high temperature, high pressure and chemically active substances. This process is called "granitization".
Thus, granites may be of igneous origin and may be formed by granitization. Forms of occurrence: mostly batholiths, stocks, laccoliths, less often dikes of significant thickness. Separate forms: flagstone, mattress-shaped.
Applications of granite
Granite is used as a building and facing material. Granite is used to make blocks, slabs, cornices, curbs, parts of various machines and units for the pulp and paper, food (starch and syrup), machine tool, metallurgical and porcelain-faience industries. Since granite, unlike metal, is not susceptible to acids and salts and is not afraid of moisture.
Millstones and rollers for mills are made from it. Granite tiles are a material for making the bases of precision instruments. Granite crushed stone is an important material for the manufacture of reinforced concrete products and structures, granite blocks - for the decorative design of buildings. Granite is used to make monuments, countertops, stairs, and paving stones.
In the Black Hills mountain system, in Mount Rushmore, composed of granites in honor of the 150th anniversary of US history, a world-famous bas-relief with portraits of four presidents is carved.
Portraits of US Presidents in granites of Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln
Granite deposits
There are granite deposits on every continent of our planet. The largest granite deposits are found in places where the crystalline basement reaches the surface in Karelia: Kupetskoye, Dugoretskoye. The largest in Europe is the Shkurlatskoye field in the Voronezh region (near the city of Pavlovsk). Rapakivi granite has been mined in the Leningrad region at the Vozrozhdenie quarry for more than 100 years.
In the Urals, granite is mined at the Mansurovskoye, Yuzhno-Sultaevskoye, and Golovyrinskoye deposits. Gray and pink granites are found in the Caucasus (Kabardino-Balkaria) and Yakutia (Taloe).
Brick-red granites are mined at the Verkhne-Chebulinskoye deposit in the Kemerovo region, and beige granites at the Udalovskoye deposit in the Altai Republic. A coarse-grained pinkish-orange rock was found at the Ushkanskoye deposit in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Highly decorative amazonite bluish-green granite is mined at two deposits in the Chita region: Chalotuisky and Etykinsky.
Large deposits of granite are known on the Scandinavian Peninsula (associated with outcrops of crystalline basement on the surface) and the USA.