A GIS Analysis to Evaluate Areas Suitable for Crushed Stone Aggregate Quarries in New England, USA

Aggregate is a low unit-value mineral commodity. Costs to move aggregate from the mine site to the point of use is a large fraction of the resource cost to users. Production sites for aggregate occur where suitable source materials exist and where transportation and market conditions are favorable. The increasing demand for aggregate and the difficulty of developing and permitting new sites and of renewal of permits on existing sites of aggregate production indicates that aggregate will be supplied from sources yet to be developed or delineated in many areas. Site development and permitting for aggregate production is difficult because many land management plans and zoning actions fail to anticipate prospective source areas for aggregate in a way that is consistent with both the source rock quality and the transportation and socioeconomic factors that define the economic viability of the industry. Spatial analysis provides a method to integrate both geology and economic (transportation and marketplace) parameters in a regional model. Weights of evidence (WofE) analysis has been used to measure the spatial correlation of geologic map, transportation network, and population data with current production sites for crushed stone aggregate in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Weighted logistic regression (WLR) is used with the WofE results to rank areas in terms of their relative suitability for production of crushed stone. Spatial analysis indicates that 85% of the 106 crushed stone aggregate quarries in New England are sited within 1.6 km (1 mile) of either a principal highway or rail line in the region. Seventy-eight percent of crushed stone aggregate quarries are sited in census tracts with population densities exceeding 100 people/mile2. These relations illustrate the importance of proximity to both transportation corridors and developing areas where aggregate is predominately used. Only one active crushed stone quarry is located in a census tract with a population density less than 15 people/mile2, reflecting the lack of sufficient market demand in many rural areas to develop an operation there. However, since 1990, almost all new quarries have been developed in census tracts with population densities less than 200 people/mile2, indicating the difficulty of permitting new quarry sites in highly populated areas. Crushed stone aggregate is produced predominately from three hard rock types that are distributed widely in New England; 28% of sites use granitic rock, 25% use carbonate rocks, and 25% use mafic rock types that are categorized as trap rock by the aggregate industry. The other crushed stone aggregate sources include a variety of fine-grained metamorphic rock types. Carbonate rocks and Jurassic basalt (the primary trap rock source) are the most prevalent source rocks on an area-weighted basis. Spatial analysis can be used on a regional scale to rank areas by their relative suitabilityfor crushed stone aggregate production based on geology, transportation, and population parameters. The results of this regional analysis can identify areas for more detailed evaluation. As transportation or population features change, the model can be revised easily to reflect these changes.