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Clay Pit
A clay pit is a quarry or mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickworks is often located alongside a clay pit to reduce the transport costs of the raw material. Today, pottery producers are often not sited near the source of their clay and usually do not own the clay deposits. In these industries, the other essential raw material is fuel for firing and potteries may be located near to fuel sources. Former claypits are sometimes filled with water and used for recreational purposes such as sailing and scuba diving. The Eden Project at Bodelva near St Austell, Cornwall, UK is a major redevelopment of a former china clay (kaolin) pit for educational and environmental purposes. See also * Cattybrook Brickpit *History of Banbury, Oxfordshire Banbury is a circa 1,500-year-old market town and Civil parishes in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clay Pit - Geograph
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clay is the oldest known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been dated to around 14,000 BC, and clay tablets were the first known writing medium. Clay is used in many modern industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population live or work in buildings made with clay, often bake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species, and each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) inflated cells supported by geodesic tubular steel domes. The larger of the two biomes simulates a rainforest environment (and is the largest indoor rainforest in the world) and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The attraction also has an outside botanical garden which is home to many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK in general; it also has many plants that provide an important and interesting backstory, for exam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bricks
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking them. Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. ''Block'' is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks (also called lightweight blocks) are made from expanded clay aggregate. Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 4000 BC. Air-dried bricks, also known as mud-bricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface Mining
Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which the overlying rock is left in place, and the mineral is removed through shafts or tunnels. In North America, where the majority of surface coal mining occurs, this method began to be used in the mid-16th century and is practiced throughout the world in the mining of many different minerals. In North America, surface mining gained popularity throughout the 20th century, and surface mines now produce most of the coal mined in the United States. In most forms of surface mining, heavy equipment, such as earthmovers, first remove the overburden. Next, large machines, such as dragline excavators or bucket-wheel excavators, extract the mineral. The pros of surface mining are that it has a lower financial cost and is a lot safer than undergrou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Banbury, Oxfordshire
Banbury is a circa 1,500-year-old market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire, England. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford. General history Origin of the toponym The toponym "Banbury" derives from "Banna", a Saxon chieftain said to have built a stockade there in the 6th century, and "burgh" meaning settlement. One Saxon spelling was ''Banesbyrig''. The name appears as ''Banesberie'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. Another known Medieval spelling was 'Banesebury' The derivation of the name of the Grimsbury, now part of Banbury, is of early Saxon type, and is the corruption of word for a defended enclosure (burh) belonging to a personage called 'Grim', thought to be a reference to a masked persona of the god Woden. Roman and Anglo-Saxon history Banbury stands at the junction of two ancient roads: Salt Way (used as a bridle path to the west an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cattybrook Brickpit
Cattybrook Brickpit is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire, SSSI notification, notified in 1989. It began as a clay pit and brickworks. History The Cattybrook Brick Company was established in 1864. In 1903 Cattybrook also acquired the nearby Shortwood Brickworks. From 1972, they were taken over by the Ibstock Group. The brickworks are located immediately to the North of the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway, then under construction through the Severn Tunnel. By the end of 1883, the tunnel's enormous demand for bricks with which to line the tunnel was taking 100,000 bricks per month from Cattybrook. This was only a small proportion of the tunnel's need though and three other brickworks were supplying the tunnel, 1,200,000 per month in total. After completion of the tunnel, these brickworks and their masons were unemployed, leading to an over-supply of cheap bricks in the area and the first speculative housi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaolinite
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina () octahedra. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as kaolin () or china clay. Kaolin is occasionally referred to by the antiquated term lithomarge, from the Ancient Greek ''litho-'' and Latin ''marga'', meaning 'stone of marl'. Presently the name lithomarge can refer to a compacted, massive form of kaolin. The name ''kaolin'' is derived from Gaoling (), a Chinese village near Jingdezhen in southeastern China's Jiangxi Province. The name entered English in 1727 from the French version of the word: , following François Xavier d'Entrecolles's reports on the making of Jingdezhen porcelain. Kaolinite has a low shrink–swell capacity and a low cation-exchange capacity (1–15 meq/100 g). It is a soft, earthy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, with the River Tamar forming the border between them. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula of the island of Great Britain. The southwesternmost point is Land's End and the southernmost Lizard Point. Cornwall has a population of and an area of . The county has been administered since 2009 by the unitary authority, Cornwall Council. The ceremonial county of Cornwall also includes the Isles of Scilly, which are administered separately. The administrative centre of Cornwall is Truro, its only city. Cornwall was formerly a Brythonic kingdom and subsequently a royal duchy. It is the cultural and ethnic origin of the Cornish dias ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Austell
St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell was a village centred around the parish church, until the arrival of significant tin mining in the 18th century turned it into a town. St Austell is named after the 6th century Cornish saint, St Austol, a disciple of St Mewan. In a Vatican manuscript there is a 10th-century list of Cornish parish saints. This includes Austoll, which means that the church and village existed at that time, shortly after 900. St Austell is not mentioned in Domesday Book (1086). However A. L. Rowse, in his book ''St. Austell: Church, Town, and Parish'', cites records which show a church was dedicated on 9 October 1262 by Bishop Bronescombe, and other records show a church there in 1169, dedicated to "Sanctus Austolus". The current church dates from the 13t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodelva
Bodelva ( kw, Boselwydh) is a hamlet in south Cornwall, England, UK, in the civil parish of St Blaise. It is about west of St Blazey.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' Bodelva is the location of the Eden Project, opened in 2001, a horticultural visitor attraction built in a china clay quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi .... References Hamlets in Cornwall Tourist attractions in Cornwall St Blazey {{Restormel-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scuba Diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long and/or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the likelihood and effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives. Open circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environmental impact. The word ''quarry'' can also include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone. Types of rock Types of rock extracted from quarries include: *Chalk *China clay *Cinder *Clay *Coal * Construction aggregate (sand and gravel) * Coquina * Diabase *Gabbro *Granite * Gritstone *Gypsum *Limestone *Marble *Ores *Phosphate rock *Quartz *Sandstone * Slate *Travertine Stone quarry Stone quarry is an outdated term for mining construction rocks (limestone, marble, granite, sandstone, etc.). There are open types (called quarries, or open-pit mines) and closed types ( mines and caves). For thousands of years, only hand tools had been used in quarries. In the 18th century, the use of drilling and blasting operatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
