New Information Obtained about Natural Stone Used in Urban Constructions and Historical Quarries
The results of studies aiming to map old quarries for natural stone in Southeast Finland and revive the natural stone market have been completed. The three-year project provided much new information about historical natural stone quarries in Southeast Finland and urban constructions in which natural stone has been used in large volumes.
Especially the red rapakivi granite extracted from Virolahti has been used extensively in St Petersburg’s urban constructions since the 18th century. Information about natural stone used in urban constructions and historical quarries collected during the studies will also be available in databases to be published soon. These historical quarry areas have not previously been outlined in detail by quarry, and new information was also obtained about former stone extraction methods. Some 120 historical quarries were investigated on the shores of Rautalanselkä and on nearby islands in Virolahti alone. Former stone extraction sites were also identified for the first time in the Korkea-aho and Tani areas in Lappeenranta, with nearly 40 sites being found in Tani, for example.
During the studies, new tools were developed to identify extraction sites for stone used in urban constructions. By using a mathematical tool developed by LUT University, the similarity of different rock types can be determined from the measurements made on the surface of the rock that can then be used not only to determine the original quarry, but also to select the natural stone required during restoration works. In addition, the studies developed chemical and thermal treatment methods to modify the appearance of stone to make extracted natural stone visually similar to stone used in historic buildings.
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences studied the logistics for natural stone. The studies present a description of the supply chain and the structure of the logistics cluster, and consider challenges and potential new business models related to natural stone. One of the original goals was to revive Finland’s natural stone market with Russia, but these activities were not finalised during the past year because of the prevailing situation.
Guides, videos and five extensive work reports have also been published based on the collected information to represent applications of natural stone in Kotka, Lappeenranta and Imatra, as well as in fortresses and churches in Southeast Finland. The guides are intended not only for experts and tourists, but also for everyone interested in the use of natural stone in urban constructions. In addition, geotechnical reports on natural stone objects in Kotka and Lappeenranta have been published with KIVI, one of the project’s stakeholders.
The studies were conducted during a three-year cross-border cooperation project, NaStA project, coordinated by the Geological Survey of Finland GTK. The project will be completed by the end of 2022. During the final year, the project has focused on studies and results in Southeast Finland. In addition to GTK, project partners included LUT University and South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.
A final report on the project’s content, implementation and results will be prepared later. It will include more detailed descriptions of the results of different stages of the project.
Additional information
Paavo Härmä, Senior Scientist
Geological Survey of Finland GTK, tel. +358 29 503 2213, paavo.harma@gtk.fi
Hannu Lahtinen, Head of Unit
Geological Survey of Finland GTK, tel. +358 29 503 5260, hannu.lahtinen@gtk.fi
More on the topic
Geological Survey of Finland GTK
- Introduction to the NaStA project
- Reports (guides) in the Hakku search and download service
Report numbers: 24/2022, 31/2022, 33/2022, 37/2022 ja 41/2022
LUT University
- Master’s Thesis, A. Surakka (2022): Similarity measurements for rapakivi granite using soft independent modelling of class analogy and metric learning
- Article in the Journal of Cultural Heritage
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Xamk
- Bachelor`s Thesis on the logistics of natural stone, J. Männikkö (2021): Transportation of granite from South-East Finland to Saint-Petersburg: Nasta-project
- “The Story of Stone” (on YouTube) describes the history of red granite and stone production in Virolahti in Southeast Finland
KIVI – Stone from Finland
The project is co-funded by the European Union
