Abstract
Dust mass concentration and concentration decrease was studied in two natural stone quarries in Finland. The dust mass concentrations produced during drilling was measured at several distances with short time interval (5 s) sampling. The variation of concentration was high, and wind direction had a crucial effect on dust dispersion. The impact of weather conditions, such as temperature and relative humidity, on dust concentration were inconsistent. The dust produced during drilling was mainly coarse-grained and it settled quickly. The background mass concentration was attained from 55 to 105 m at the downwind direction from the drill. The fine particle mass concentrations were low during the measurements. The fine particles originated mainly from other, remote, sources and from the machinery used in the quarries. Local dust sources, such as hauling, had a significant impact on dust mass concentrations even inside the quarry. The drilling capacity effected on dust mass concentration near the drill, but the impact vanished quickly with increasing distance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aatos S (ed) (2003) Environmental effects in natural stone production life cycle (Luonnonkivituotannon elinkaaren aikaiset ympäristövaikutukset). Suomen ympäristö, Luonto ja luonnonvarat 656, Ympäristöministeriö (in Finnish with an English summary)
Bada BS, Olatunde KA, Akande OA (2013) Air quality assessment in the vicinity of quarry site. Environ Nat Resour Res 3(2):111–115
Belardi G, Vignaroli G, Plescia P, Passeri L (2013) The assessment of particulate matter emitted from stone-crushing industry by correlating rock textures with particles generated after comminution and dispersed in air environment. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 20(7):4711–4728
Cattle SR, Hemi K, Pearson GL, Sanderson T (2012) Distinguishing and characterizing point-source mining dust and diffuse-source dust deposits in a semi-arid district of eastern Australia. Aeolian Res 6:21–29
Degan GA, Lippiello D, Pinzari M (2013) Monitoring airborne dust in an Italian basalt quarry: comparison between sampling methods. Air Pollut XXI 174:75–84
EN 12670 (2001) Natural stone. Terminology. European committee for standardization. ISBN 0 580 39185 X, p 49
Golbabaei F, Barghi M-A, Sakhaei M (2004) Evaluation of workers’ exposure to total, respirable and silica dust and the related health symptoms in Senjedak stone quarry, Iran. Ind Health 42:29–33
Härmä P, Selonen O (2008) Surface weathering of rapakivi granite outcrops—implications for natural stone exploration and quality evaluation. Estonian J Earth Sci 57(3):135–148
Härmä P, Selonen O, Luodes H (2015) The Wiborg granite batholith—the main production area for granite in Finland. In: Lollino G et al (eds) Engineering geology for society and territory, vol 5. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp 259–262. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09048-1
Hedges KJG (2016) Assessment and control of respirable crystalline silica in quarries and dimension stone mines. Thesis, School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Sydney
Hinds WC (ed) (1999) Aerosol technology: properties, behavior and measurement of airborne particles, 2nd edn. Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp 15–53
Junttila S, Tossavainen A, Hartikainen T, Härmä P, Korhonen K, Suominen V, Pyy L (1996) Airborne mineral fibers and quartz dust in precambrian metamorphic limestone and dolomite mines in Finland. Appl Occup Envinron Hyg 11(8):1075–1080
Junttila S, Tossavainen A, Hartikainen T, Härmä P, Korhonen K, Suominen V, Pyy L (1997) Airborne mineral dust at nine crushed rock plants in Finland. Appl Occup Envinron Hyg 12(12):882–886
Lindberg B, Bergman L (1993) Pre-quaternary rocks of the Vehmaa map-sheet area. Geological Survey of Finland. Geological map of Finland 1:100 000, explanation to the maps of pre-quaternary rocks, Sheet 1042 Vehmaa, Espoo (in Finnish with an English summary)
Madl AK, Donovan EP, Gaffney SH, McKinley MA, Moody EC, Henshaw JL, Paustenbach DJ (2008) State-of-the-science review of the occupational health hazards of crystalline silica in abrasive blasting operations and related requirements for respiratory protection. J Toxicol Environ Health Part B Crit Rev 11(7):548–608
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2003) Mineral policy statement 2: controlling and mitigating the environmental effects of minerals extraction in England. MPS2, London, UK
Olusegun O, Adeniyi A, Adeola GT (2009) Impact of granite quarrying on the health of workers and nearby residents in Abeokuta Ogun State, Nigeria. Ethiopian J Environ Stud Manag 2(1):1–11
Organiscak JA, Page SJ (1995) Assessment of airborne dust generated from small truck-mounted rock drills. RI 9616, Report of investigations/1995, United States Department of the Interior, United States Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh
Organiscak JA, Page SJ (2005) Development of a dust collector inlet hood for enhanced surface mine drill dust capture. Int J Surf Min Reclam Environ 19(1):12–28
Räisänen M (2004) From outcrops to dust—mapping, testing, and quality assessment of aggregates. University of Helsinki, Publications of the Department of Geology D1, Yliopistopaino Helsinki
Reed WR (2003) An improved model for prediction of PM10 from surface mining operations. Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor in philosophy in mining and minerals engineering. Blacksburg, Virginia
Romu I (ed) (2014) Best environmental practices (BEP) for natural stone production (Parhaat ympäristökäytännöt (BEP) luonnonkivituotannossa). The Finnish Environment 5/2014 (in Finnish with an English summary)
Sairanen M (2014) Dust emissions in natural stone production (Pölypäästöt luonnonkivituotannossa). In: Romu I (ed) Best environmental practices (BEP) for natural stone production. The Finnish Environment 5/2014, pp 44–60 (in Finnish)
Sairanen M, Rinne M, Selonen O (2017) A review of dust emission dispersions in rock aggregate and natural stone quarries. Int J Surf Min Reclam Environ. doi:10.1080/17480930.2016.1271385
Salmela P, Selonen O, Palin H, (2014) Modern granite quarrying (Nykyaikaista graniitinlouhintaa). Vuorityö ja—tekniikka, pp 26–28 (in Finnish)
Selonen O, Heldal T (2003) Technologies. In: Selonen O, Suominen V (eds) Nordic Stone. Geological science series. UNESCO publishing, Paris, pp 42–50
Selonen O, Ehlers C, Luodes H, Lerssi J (2005) The Vehmaa rapakivi granite batholith—an assemblage of successive intrusions indicating a piston-type collapsing centre. Bull Geol Soc Finl 77:65–70
Selonen O, Ehlers C, Luodes H, Karell F (2011) Magmatic constraints on localization of natural stone deposits in the Vehmaa rapakivi granite batholith, southwestern Finland. Bull Geol Soc Finl 83:25–39
Turnkey Instruments Ltd (2009) Osiris, Operating instructions. http://www.turnkey-instruments.com/images/documents/Osiris-Operating-Instructions.pdf. Accessed 18 March 2014
Turnkey Instruments Ltd (2014) Topas & Osiris, Environmental monitor, Training manual. http://www.turnkey-instruments.com/images/documents/Topas-Osiris-Monitor-Training-Manual.pdf. Accessed 18 March 2014
US EPA (1995) AP 42, fifth edition, volume I chapter 13: miscellaneous sources, http://www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch13/final/c13s02.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct 2015
US EPA (2013) Air and radiation, six common pollutants, particulate matter PM, health. Last update 18 March 2013. http://www.epa.gov/airquality/particlepollution/health.html. Accessed 3 April 2014
Velleman (2009) WS 1080, Weather centre with touchscreen and pc interface, User manual
Vuolio R, Halonen T (2010) Räjäytystyöt (Blasting operations). Suomen rakennusmedia Oy. ISBN-13: 9789525785340, ISBN-10: 9525785343 (in Finnish)
World Health Organization (1999) Hazard Prevention and Control in the Work Environment: Airborne Dust. World Health Organization, Switzerland. WHO/SDE/OEH/99.14. http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/en/oehairbornedust3.pdf. Accessed 6 Sept 2015
Acknowledgements
Palin Granit Oy is acknowledged for access to the quarries. The site personnel is thanked for their support during the measurements. FCG Finnish Consulting Group Oy is acknowledged for the usage of Osiris nephelometers and allowing the usage of the working equipment and space. K. H. Renlund foundation made this research possible with their financial support. Professor Mikael Rinne (Aalto University), as well as two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their valuable comments on the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sairanen, M., Selonen, O. Dust formed during drilling in natural stone quarries. Bull Eng Geol Environ 77, 1249–1262 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1016-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1016-5