The Carrara Marble: geology, geomechanics and quarrying

Abstract

The industrial exploitation of the Carrara Marble dates back to I century B.C. with the Romans. After a black out in the Early Mediaeval age due to barbarian invasions, since XIII century the Carrara Marble has becoming more and more used for ornamental purposes and appreciated and requested worldwide. Geologically the Carrara Marble derives from a Tertiary polyphasic tectono-metamorphic deformation of an Early Jurassic epicontinental carbonate platform. That got rise to the diverse merceological types of the Carrara Marble, this and two neo-tectonic sub-vertical fracture systems, NNE-SSW and NW-SE trending respectively and grouped into bands irregularly spaced, control the geo-mining setting of the Carrara Marble. For centuries the Carrara Marble has been excavated only following the feeling the quarrymen had with the rock-mass, but the new cultivation technologies with diamond-wire cutting machines and saw-cutting chains, with big frontal-loaders and excavators, have greatly increased the production and require for a robust design based on reliable geomechanical data. Underground quarrying is increasing because technical and environmental concerns and asks for robust design and in situ stress determinations.