Exploration for dimensional stone — implications and examples from the Precambrian of southern Finland

Dimension stone is a natural rock that must fulfil high qualitative standards defined by both geology-based factors and non-geological factors. The stone itself (appearance/soundness) and the market demand are the two most important aspects in the quality assessment. The process of geological dimension stone exploration is a systematic and stepwise procedure, including individual steps of desk study, field mapping, detailed examination, geo-radar survey, and core drilling. The location of all economically feasible dimension stone deposits is strictly controlled by geological factors. Knowledge of these factors is fundamental in identifying new sites with potential for dimension stone. In this work the geological constraint on the occurrence of dimension stone in three areas, in the Precambrian of southern Finland, has been investigated. The deposits are localized to part of an area in which different geological features in combination have produced rock of good dimension stone quality. The study shows that, for example, vertical movements in the crust, magmatic evolution of an intrusion, and metamorphic grade define the location of rocks suitable for dimension stone.