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This Limestone and Dolomite Resources of Kentucky website is a compilation of information about the occurrence and character of
quarried carbonate stone resources in the state. It is the culmination of over 65 years of field examination, sampling and
analysis by KGS geologists of rock units available for economic development. The sites shown on this map represent quarries,
mines, outcrops, and cores that expose carbonate units of interest. Many of the sites were visited by geologists to characterize
the stratigraphy of the rock and to take samples for a variety of tests. Other sites show evidence of historical mining, but were
not sampled or described.
This website does not contain information on limestone reserves, production, or the current status of limestone operations. For information about
limestone production, see the
U.S. Geological Survey’s Minerals Yearbook Volume II.
For information about the current status of operations that provide materials to the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet, see the
KYTC Aggregate Source Book.
The overall goal of this research program was to discern relationships between carbonate lithologies, stratigraphic units, and properties such as chemistry and rock porosity.
Much of the raw data collected at the sites is contained in archived field notes available on the website. Chemical analyses for major element oxides (Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, and Si)
for over 15,000 samples are available in tabular format and search tools for finding sites having particular thresholds of these constituents are provided.
The data from some of the sites have been previously published and links to online versions of the reports are shown for those localities. A subset of the operations have provided
limestone aggregate to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at some time and may appear in the
Aggregate Source Book published annually by the Cabinet. Summary information from the
KYTC is also provided at this website.
A portion of the work to preserve and digitize this limestone and dolomite resource data, including scanning field notebooks and compiling the chemistry database, was supported by the
USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program.
This website is very simple to use. The initial view shows all the limestone aggregate sites symbolized by site type and the colored areas represent different limestone units.
Tools for navigating the site and getting more information are on the left.
Use the search box to search for a limestone site with either a three letter site code (e.g. BTQ or CBC), site name, or site ID number; or enter a placename or address. Pick a specific type of data to search by using the pulldown on the left to select a search category. The search will prioritize in the order displayed: Limestone Site Name → Limestone Sample Site Code → Limestone Lithology → Geographic Name or Address.
Click this icon to see an explanation of the symbols on the map. Each colored unit is composed of one or more geologic formations of similar age.
Click this icon to turn on or off any of the individual layers on the map. Click the
to the right of each layer to see the metadata for the layer or to access it in other software.
Click this icon to find sites having specified chemical criteria. One or more criteria can be entered and sites will be highlighted when all the criteria are met.
Click this icon to choose a desired basemap for display.
Click these icons to zoom in or out on the map. If your mouse has a roller ball, that can also be used to zoom.
Click this icon to set mouse drag to Pan mode. Clicking and sliding on the map will move the map in the direction of the slide.
Click this icon to set mouse movement to rotate in 3-D.
Click this icon to reset the map orientation after using the rotate feature.
Click this icon to reset the map to its original state.
Click on any site to find more information about it. The pop-up window will have information about the site...
