Influence of fracturing in an ignimbrite quarry – The case study of “Guama” quarry in Tenerife island (Spain)

Resumen

The profitability of stone quarries and processing plants depends significantly on the quality of their products. Apart from visual defects, such as variations in colour, texture or porosity, discontinuities are one of the most important factors, since the intersection of discontinuities determines the size and shape of the unfractured rock mass. The aim of this study is to characterise the discontinuities of a primary block at the quarry face of the “Guama” quarry, located in the south of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), which extracts four varieties of ignimbrite widely used as building stone. The direction and length of the fractures were measured and their spatial distribution was evaluated using 3D Block Expert software. Taking into account that the sidewall will be the new exploitation front once the upper levels (palaeosoil and topsoil) are removed, the main families of joints in this rock massif were identified and their distribution analysed.