FEATURES OF THE SIZE CHANGES OF QUARTZ CRYSTALITES OF THE STAROKAIDATSKYI QUARRY GRANITOIDS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRILLING AND BLASTING OPERATIONS
Authors: Ishkov Valerii , Baskevych Oleksandr , Kozii Yevhen , Pashchenko Pavlo , Kasianenko Tymofii 
Published: January 2025

Purpose. To establish and analyze the change features in the size of quartz crystallites of the Starokaidatskyi quarry granitoids under the influence of drilling and blasting operations.

Methodology. The materials of the study consisted of granite samples collected from one area of the Starokaydatsky quarry. They were selected before (core from an exploration well) and after (oversize rock torn off by an explosion near the southern side of the quarry) drilling and blasting operations. To obtain optically monomineralic phases, the samples were subjected to magnetic separation using a three-roll separator, which made it possible to isolate four fractions with different magnetic properties. Then, all samples were sequentially subjected to X-ray structural analysis using a DRON-3 X-ray diffractometer with monochromatized Co-K-α radiation (I = 1.7902Å). Identification of mineral compounds was carried out manually, comparing the interplanar distances (d, Å) and relative intensities (I otn-I/I 0) of the experimental curve with the data of the PCPDFWIN electronic file. All X-ray phase studies were performed within the range of angles 10-90º with a step of 0.1º and an exposure time of 5 seconds.

Results. Results analysis of the conducted research indicates a significant impact of drilling and blasting operations at the Starokaidatskyi granite quarry on one of the most important elements of the fine crystalline structure of quartz – the size of its crystallites. The phenomenon of a decrease in both the overall size of crystallites and their dispersion along individual crystallographic planes due to the impact of drilling and blasting operations has been established. It has been proven that an increase in the content of various-scale “impurities” significantly affects the reduction in the size of crystallites of optically monomineral quartz granitoids of the Starokaydak quarry and, therefore, leads to a change in its physical properties, in particular, magnetic ones.

Scientific novelty of the research results consists in the established phenomenon of a decrease in the size of the coherent scattering regions of X-rays (crystallites) of optically monomineral quartz of granitoids of the Starokaidatskyi quarry under the thermodynamic influence of drilling and blasting operations, one of the main characteristics of changes in the substructure of the crystal lattice of quartz – one of the main rock-forming minerals of granites of the Sinyavsky deposit under the thermodynamic influence of blasting operations.

Practical significance of the results of the work consists in establishing significant qualitative changes in the crystallochemical structure of quartz granitoids of the Starokaidatskyi quarry, which can be used to predict their properties in the construction industry, production of concrete products and production of decorative materials.

Key words: granitoids, Starokaidatskyi quarry, quartz crystallites, crystallographic planes, magnetic separation, crystal structure, drilling and blasting operations