A study of some Nigerian carbonate rocks for the building construction industry

A number of geotechnical analyses were carried out on selected carbonate rock samples from ten locations in Nigeria. This was to assess the suitability of these rocks as building construction aggregates. The analyses included uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength porosity, water absorption and dynamic fragmentation.

Evaluation of these carbonate rocks on the basis of a quality index (QI) scheme show that some lithofacies (i.e., calcareous siltstone, pisolitic limestone, marly limestone, massive limestone, sandy limestone, oncolitic limestone and fossiliferous limestone) which were obtained from Abini, Ashaka, Calabar Ikom road, Ikot Okpora, Mfamosing and Nkalagu are the best for construction purposes. However, it is recommended that the susceptibility of each deposit to solution should be investigated.