Source of cement raw material for the construction of Bhasha Dam in Gilgit Diamir District,Pakistan

Appreciable amount of limestone deposits ranging from jurassic to eocene occurs near the construction site of the bhasha dam,district abbottabad. the current investigation utilizes techniques like,petrography,geochemistry and geotechnical tests on the samana suk formation,kawagarh formation,lockhart limestone and margalla hill limestone of abbottabad area to check their feasibility as construction material for basha dam. mineralogically,the studied limestones have high calcite content with minor quartz. microstylolites with insoluble residue are present in some samples while sparry calcite-filled hairline fractures are common. generally the cao content of the limestone is high in most of the studied limestone except some samples from lockhart limestone and margalla hill limestone. most of the studied limestone samples have permissible amounts of sio for its use for various purposes and though some of the samples 2 have higher values of silica,but they cannot be regarded as argillaceous limestones. al o and fe o are also 2 3 2 3 within the permissible limits for use in various industries. na o and k o are found only in traces as per the 2 2 pure stone chemistry. the mgo contents are predominantly low except in certain samples of the samana suk limestone where certain horizons are more dolomitized with high mgo. these studied limestone vary from minor to considerable degree of secondary dolomitization,however,no other deleterious constituents are present. these studied limestone samples from different formations of district abbottabad fulfill the specifications for their use in cement industry and in aggregates. the samana suk and kawagarh formations are the nearest source for the cement manufacturing plant to cater for bhasha dam construction. © 2015 national centre of excellence in geology. all rights reserved.