Aggregate Potential Mapping
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Aggregate Potential Mapping
Gerry Stanley
The construction sector over the past decade has been one of the star performers in the Irish economy. The principal raw material for the sector is construction aggregate – the rock material that goes into making concrete. The principal sources of construction aggregate in Ireland are sand and gravel deposits laid down during and since the last glacial period and crushed rock from the hard rock beneath the glacial and other deposits. These are natural rock formations and were formed by natural geological processes in the location where we find them today. We have to extract the materials where we find them.
The Minerals Section has over the past number of years carried out studies on where construction aggregates can be found. The programme, known as Aggregate Potential mapping or APM for short was carried out on a county by county basis. Schemes for four counties were carried out – Cavan, Donegal, Meath (see diagrams for these maps) and Wicklow. However, with the publication of the National Development Plan in late 2006 the mapping of areas with the potential to provide aggregate resources was recognised to be an important programme and was to be accelerated and carried out on a prioritised regional basis.
Crushed Rock aggregate potential (left) and Sand and Gravel aggregate potential for Co. Meath
Over the life of the programme (seven years) separate maps for sand and gravel potential and crushed rock potential will be produced. The criteria for each map set have been identified as follows:
- Crushed Rock
- Rock type...........................................GSI 1:100,000 scale bedrock maps
- Existing and historic quarries........GSI Minlocs†database and Quarry Directory
- Distance from national roads........OSi‡ maps
- Distance from towns etc.................CSO* census
- Elevation.............................................OSi maps
- Granular Aggregates
- Area of sand and gravel body........GSI Quaternary data
- Existing and historic pits................GSI Minlocs database and Quarry Directory
- Distance from national roads........OSi maps
- Distance from towns etc.................CSO census
- Elevation............................................Osi maps
†Minlocs is a computer database in the GSI which contains a listing of mineral occurrences in Ireland, including sites of crushed rock, and sand and gravel deposits.
‡ OSi is the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and is the national topographical mapping agency.
* CSO is the Central Statistics office and provides statistical information for Ireland.
The programme is managed by the minerals Section in the GSI. Mr Phelim Lally has been recruited on a contract basis to carry out the work over the duration of the project while Dr. Michael Philcox has been retained to map priority areas for sand and gravel deposits until the end of this year. Ms Claudia Loesch will provide data input and processing assistance for the first year of the project.
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