Making use of mud from marble cutting and polishing to recuperate rubble marble

Abstract

In the regeneration of the rubble marble quarrying in the region of Macael (Almería), the steep slopes (>60%) and marked textural contrast between the pores of the sterile fragments (average Φ≈ 2 cm) and those of the superficial soil (average Φ ≈ 30 µm), determine that the extremely large pores of the sterile materials lack suc­tion capacity and are therefore impermeable. As a result, in the superficial soil funnel flow occurs, causing erosion when it comes to the surface, and breaking the organic protection. To avoid this phenomenon, the large pores of the slag heap are filled with the sludge arising from marble cutting and polishing. This new system increased suction capacity and water retention by surface unit, and di­minished the hydric deficit of the vegetation and the funnel flow effect, thus reducing the erosion process.