Search for building materials

The composition of the engineering and geological surveys, in addition to finding the most profitable place for the construction, also includes the search for building materials.

Construction materials must meet a number of requirements, of which the most important can be considered: the appropriate quality of materials and the necessary supply of them, minimum development costs and their delivery to the construction site.

Requirements for construction materials depend on the type of the designed structure, its class and are determined by the relevant regulatory documents.

The most important characteristic of the quality of stone building materials is their mechanical strength in a dry and water-saturated condition, frost resistance, specific and volume weight, porosity. For sand, an important characteristic is the particle size distribution and the content of harmful impurities (clay particles, gypsum); for gravel is also important its petrographic composition, frost resistance. Searches for building materials are carried out on the basis of geological and lithological maps and sections, maps of quaternary deposits and additional searches and geological surveys. Well-executed geological maps and sections make it possible to see the position, the ratio and the change in the productive stratum and stratum of the host rocks, tectonic disturbances, and the timing of the building material to certain geological structures. The required scale of geological survey depends on the size, field and complexity of the geological structure of the site. For fields that occupy an area of ​​several square kilometers and have a simple structure, surveys are carried out on a scale of 1: 5000 ... 1: 10 000; for smaller fields, but having a complex geological structure, we need surveys on a scale of 1: 1000 ... 1: 2000 with a cross section of relief in 2 ... 0.5 m.

The search is conducted by single routes or by laying a system of parallel routes, evenly covering certain areas. Routes are laid at a distance of 10 ... 250 m from one another. The routes are geological survey and technical leveling.

In the process of prospecting, the quality of the building material, its reserves, conditions of occurrence and development, the volume of overburden works, the depth of occurrence and the abundance of the groundwater encountered should be ascertained at least approximately. To do this, conduct exploration work: pitting, digging ditches, drilling wells.

The quality of proven building materials is evaluated on the basis of rock sample tests; when evaluating the results of tests using approximate methods. The development of natural building materials is most often done in an open way.

Estimation of reserves is carried out on the basis of plans obtained as a result of exploration and geological sections, which also indicate the quality of the material.