Geological Map of Alabama is available on this web site.
Mineral Resources Program at the Geological Survey of Alabama (The following quotation is used with permission.)
"Crushed stone, including limestone, dolomite, marble, granite, sandstone, and quartzite, contributes to a thriving mineral industry in the state. Stone, along with sand, gravel, and clay, makes up a multi-million dollar nonfuel minerals industry in Alabama. In 1997, the value of these produced minerals exceeded $735 million.
"Approximately 9.1 metric tons of nonfuel minerals are required every year for every person in the United States to maintain the current standard of living. Materials mined in Alabama such as bauxite, chalk, recovered sulfur, salt, and shale are used extensively in both construction and industry. Alabama exports a significant part of its industrial mineral production. Alabama ranks 17th nationally as a nonfuel minerals producer. The Geological Survey maps the distribution of these valuable resources and reports annual production and utilization figures."
A Location Guide For Rock Hounds in The United States, Collected by Robert C. Beste, PG, December 1996, second edition, Hobbit Press, St. Louis, Missouri. (This book lists and describes many Alabama quarries by county.)
Mineralogy Collection, a part of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, Tuscaloosa Museum of Natural History, Smith Hall, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Museums, Parks, and Places with Geologic and Earth Science Exhibits
Plate XXIII. Entrance chamber in onyx-marble cave near Kymulga, Talladega County. The rock in which the cavern is formed in a dolomite. The onyx-marble deposits are calcite. (pp. 168-169) |
Plate XXVI. A. Folding and reverse faulting in interbedded phyllite and marble from formation west of the crystalline marble belt. (pp. 174-175) |
Teaching Tombstones in Tuscaloosa County, by Ian W. Brown
Alabama History, presented by Sweet Home Alabama.
Marble, the official Alabama Rock, photograph and history presented in the Alabama Symbols, Emblems, and Honors for Kids, on the Alabama Archives web site.
Mining sites, quarries and mining equipment remain on Ruffner Mountain from the many iron ore mines that dotted the landscape from the 1880s to the 1950s.
Alabama Archives & Libraries, presented by Family Search.
Museums, Parks, and Places with Geologic and Earth Science Exhibits
Discovering Alabama, by the University of Alabama.
Virtual Field Trips on Discovering Alabama, by the University of Alabama.
NOTE: You can obtain Alabama Geological Survey publications from the publications section of the web site.
Google Book Search: You can use Google Book Search to search for specific subjects in thousands of books available through the Google Book Search - both books under copyright and in the public domain. Hundreds of books are added regularly, so check back if you do not find books on the subject for which you are seeking information.
“Alabama marble is superior, expert says,” by Matt Quillen, April 16, 2011, from “The Daily Home.”
“Alabama marble called whitest in world,” February 5, 2005, The Decatur Daily News
A High-Resolution Palynological Analysis Of The St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama: Locating The Eocene-Oligocene Boundary And Characterizing The Environmental Changes Across The Margin, A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College In fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science in The Department of Geology and Geophysics, By Kevin Jensen B.S., Central Michigan University, 2009 May, 2012.
The Alabama “Marble Industry,” by Michael Kief Law, Auburn University, presented on the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Re-Mapping St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama: An Undergraduate Student Research Project With Geological And Archaeological Applications, Justin A. Hayles, Amanda D. Lemler, and Douglas W. Haywick, W., Earth Sciences, University of South Alabama, March 2010. (abstract) Presented on the Geological Society of America (GSA) web site.
St. Stephens Historical Commission, Functional Analysis & Records Disposition Authority, presented to the State Records Commission, April 26, 2001.
“Sylacauga marble,” presented on Wikipedia.
Synergy – Alabama Limestone Company Cathedral Stoneworks – The Alabama Columns, presented on Cathedral Stone Works
Following is an excerpt from Synergy – Alabama Limestone Company / Cathedral Stoneworks – The Alabama Columns:
“Alabama Limestone Company: founded in 1827, set in the Appalachian piedmont of northwestern Alabama, with a 32-ft. tall seam of pure ‘Shadow Vein’ oolitic limestone....”
“Cathedral Stoneworks: founded in 1989 in Harlem, a high-tech, all-stone fabrication resource for the 21st century that’s building a cathedral, teaching 13th-century stonecraft to local apprentices, and is ‘...among the most up-to-date stoneworking factories in the world,’ according to Stone World magazine.
“The Alabama Column: an emblem of synergy, 23-ft. tall, carved in Shadow Vein limestone in situ into the side of the quarry and embellished with reliefs depicting Alabama state emblems (the red-bellied turtle, the pecan, et al). Fifteen tons of stone were blasted from the site; 5000 bore holes were drilled. A team of New York master carvers and Alabama masons completed the project in three months. ‘Abu ‘Bama,’ they named it, after its inspiration, the Egyptian temple of abu simbel.
“Synergy: ‘working together.’ Alabama Limestone Company and Cathedral Stoneworks combine stone-age materials and space-age technologies to create an innovative American resource that’s the talk of the industry....”
“Teen discovers rare fossil in Alabama quarry,” by Amanda Bayhi, July 19, 2013, on the AggMan web site. (in a Greene County quarry)
The following stone carvers’/company names are listed on this web site in addition to photographs of cemetery stones that they signed: Alexander HERD, Eutaw, Alabama; HERD & Bros., G. Herd; Thomas H. HOLT, Birmingham, Alabama; and B. J. HUGHES, Vienna, Alabama.
According to this book, Giuseppe Moretti quarried and promoted the use of Sylacauga marble for statuary and construction. Photographs of Giuseppe Moretti’s works and studio and home are included.
“Giuseppe Moretti (1857-1935), an Italian-born classical sculptor, made an extraordinary impact on the state of Alabama through his design and execution of Birmingham’s 56-foot iron statue of Vulcan and his promotion of Alabama marble as a medium for fine sculpture…..”
“…Moretti decided to find a way to buy land and establish his own quarry in Alabama. He hauled a sample block of the gleaming white stone back to his studio in Birmingham and carved The Head of Christ, a work that he carried with him to every place that he lived for the rest of his life…..”
Marble Quarry, 1935
“During the early twentieth century, Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti, whose first contribution to Alabama was the Vulcan statue in Birmingham, used Sylacauga marble for a number of his works. During the 1930s the marble industry fought the Great Depression and saw larger operations such as the Alabama Marble Company absorb smaller ones.”
Giuseppe Moretti’s House and Studio, 4029 Bigelow Blvd., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
According to this web site, Moretti “spent many years in Pittsburgh ( Pennsylvania) which characterized the years spanning from 1916 to 1930 with the house and studio at 4029 Bigelow Avenue. Construction of the ‘facility’ cost roughly $30,000 and was finished in cream-colored brick with trimmings of Alabama Marble….”
Commercial use of material within this site is strictly prohibited. It is not to be captured, reworked, and placed inside another web site �. All rights reserved. Peggy B. and George (Pat) Perazzo.