Scientific publications

At the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), regional explorations of natural stone have been in progress since 1988. The aim has been to explore bedrock outcrops on a certain region to find prospects suitable for natural stone production. Furthermore environmental aspects have been noticed. The work has been carried out jointly with the regional authorities and generally financed by European regional development funding.
Until now the regional explorations of natural stone cover a total of approx. 12 000 bedrock outcrops, covering roughly 30% of Finland's land area. The explorations began from eastern Finland. The aim is to explore the whole Finland by the same methods.
The main method in the regional natural stone exploration is based on a conventional geological mapping. The colour and texture of rock type is very carefully noticed during the exploration. The spacing of fractures are measured or estimated carefully. Different kinds of samples are taken, and also GPR (ground penetrating radar) is used in selected areas.
The exploration has shown that less than 4 % of the bedrock outcrops studied could be suitable for natural stone production. The amount and type of these prospect areas varies in different regions and depends the bedrock geology of the regions. In these areas detailed explorations and more sampling should be done in prospect scale that means detailed mapping along traverses, sampling, GPR, and core drilling.