Natural stone is often used as a decorative material. Different materials, different colors, and different shapes have different application ranges. Among them, Travertine is a very special stone. In this article, we will introduce Travertine.
Travertine is a major category of limestone in the marble series. It is loved by domestic and foreign designers for its rich color, clear grain, and distinctive hole structure. It has created a large number of classic stone projects. The color of travertine is very rich, the most mainstream is light beige, and there are yellow travertine, coffee travertine, super white travertine, red travertine, gray travertine, golden travertine, and so on.
● Distribution of travertine mines
Travertine is widely distributed, mainly in Italy, Turkey and Iran. In recent years, good quality travertine has been produced in Mexico.
The main travertine in Italy is Roman travertine, grey travertine, and silver-grey travertine. The mines also produce a kind of golden travertine, but it is mainly sold abroad and has not entered the Chinese market. These varieties are different entrances and levels of the same mining area. The mining area is located in Livonia, a small town near Rome. Along both sides of the road, frantic Poggi, Gino Poggi, pacific, giant anti, Domus, STR, BTR, brain Poggi and other mines are distributed, with the whole mining area of about 4km * 2km.
The travertine in Turkey is scattered all over the country. The largest mining area is located in DENIZLI, which mainly produces white travertine, white travertine is also produced in Antalya, AFYON, NIGDE, and other places. Sivas produces golden and red travertine, Konya produces yellow travertine, and KARAMAN super white Travertine.
● The formation process of Travertine
The English name of Travertine is travertine, and the scientific name is limestone. Geological studies show that the formation of Travertine is closely related to hot springs.
The formation of Travertine mainly goes through four steps
1. Atmospheric precipitation enters into the ground to form groundwater.
2. The groundwater passes through limestone, and the calcium carbonate in limestone dissolves continuously, reaching saturation gradually.
3. Due to the geothermal gradient effect, the groundwater keeps heating up in the process of deep into the ground, the solubility of calcium carbonate increases and more calcium carbonate is dissolved.
4. The saturated groundwater gushes out to form a hot spring, and the temperature decreases. The solubility of calcium carbonate decreases and precipitates to form Travertine.
The most beautiful and typical travertine being formed in the world is PAMUKKALE in Turkey, where hot springs are continuously gushing out, and the rich calcium carbonate is continuously deposited, forming a very distinctive landscape. The travertine in manhua is very different from the common travertine in the stone industry, mainly because the formation process is the same, but the formation environment is very different.
● Metallogenic characteristics and ore controlling factors
1. The formation environment of the travertine is mainly the bottom of the sea, at least the bottom of the great lake. Commercially valuable Travertine mines require uniform materials with beautiful patterns. If the tufa formed on the surface is very uneven, as the cotton fort, on the one hand, the texture will be very chaotic. Only in the very weak hydrodynamic environment of the seafloor or the bottom of a large lake, can the hot springs flow gently around, and the calcium carbonate in them can be evenly precipitated and form beautiful lines. One of the main defects of the commercial Travertine is the curved grain, which is the result of the disturbance when the hot spring gushes out.
2. The ribbons of Travertine are distributed along the grain. This is very obvious in Roman travertine. Silver grey travertine. White travertine, Red travertine, Golden travertine, and other travertine, which is also an important reason for the formation of cave stone patterns. This kind of color band is the original grain formed when the limestone dissolved in groundwater contains more impurities and precipitates when the hot spring gushes out. When the limestone dissolved becomes pure, the grain will disappear.
3. All the travertine mines are in the horizontal strike, which shows that the ore body has been in the state of formation, and has not experienced such geological processes as extrusion and uplift. The holes of the cave stone are connected, and the hot spring can pass through when it is formed. If the stone block is erected and watered at the top, it will be found that the water can flow directly to the bottom through the hole.
4. After the formation of travertine, there is no post-metamorphism. Because there are many holes in the travertine, the flexural and compressive strength are relatively poor. If the travertine is subjected to a large external force, it will fracture and produce many cracks, thus losing its commercial value. The more special is the Roman travertine, which has experienced a certain degree of compaction. The normal travertine is also round, while the holes of the Roman travertine are bent;
Roman travertine also experienced certain recrystallization, so the plate surface has a special glaze texture and high luminosity. In the Roman travertine of giant anti-mine, a circle of calcium carbonate crystal around the hole can be often seen, which is usually dug out and then filled with glue; The combined effect of these two aspects makes the strength of Roman travertine significantly higher than other travertine.
● What are the advantages and disadvantages of travertine?
- Advantages of travertine
There are many holes in the travertine, so the hardness is small, the texture is soft, easy to exploit, and the plasticity is very strong. The finished cave stone works are also easy to transport, so they are very popular with businesses. Because of its small hardness, the cave stone is easy to carve and can be made into various carving works. In addition, the holes in the decoration material classification of travertine also have a strong ability to absorb sound. Therefore, the sound insulation effect of travertine is very good. At the same time, travertine can also insulate heat. There are more than ten kinds of natural travertine surface colors, and the surface texture is very unique, which has a strong decorative and can be used as rock filling materials for rockery, bonsai, etc.
2. Shortcomings of travertine
The hardness of travertine is small, which is the advantage and disadvantage of travertine. A large number of holes make the density of the stone very low, the water absorption increases, the hardness decreases, the hardness and water absorption of the stone are far less than other natural stones. High water absorption makes the travertine can not be installed in the bathroom, bathroom, and other humid environments, and even the living room and bedroom have excessive water absorption, which leads to cracking, fading, discoloration, and other situations. Especially in Asia, acid rain pollution is more serious in our country. If we use travertine as decoration material of the family exterior wall, it is difficult to ensure the performance of travertine as before after acid rain erosion and sun and rain, and the worst is the possibility of large-scale falling of tiles.
Travertine is a very special material, its advantages and disadvantages are very prominent, so when we choose travertine products, we must be familiar with its performance, reasonable and standardized use of travertine. I believe it will bring you unexpected happiness! Well, this article will be written here for the time being. If you have more good sharing, please remember to send me an email at sales@sntstone.com.
