Building with rocks
Easily pliable limestones, sandstones and igneus rocks are often used for some specific constructions, like frames, building fronts, columns and pillars. In some rustic buildings, especially on the mountains, thin natural layers made of slate are used instead of roof tiles.
For extremely elegant buildings or monuments, marble, tufa and alabaster are widely used.
As a precious covering, sedimentary rocks with very pretty drawings are used. They are called “onyxes”. Magmatic rocks, metamorphic and especially calcareous rocks, which can be easily polished and are resistant to tear and wear are widely used for interior flooring. Instead, for road flooring, river stones or even more resistant rocks like granites, porphyries, syenite and gneiss are used. Gravel and crushed stones are used for roadbeds and railway ballasts (the ground where asphalt and tracks are set). In order to protect riverbanks, lake or sea shores, big heavy and very resistant rocks are usually used, especially compact and dark effusive and metamorphic rocks.
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8 November 2013
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Urban woods
When walking along a tree-lined avenue in a crowded and traffic-congested city, wrapped up in our daily commitments, we do…
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Easter with extinct friends
Easter Island is shaped like a triangle with three extinct volcanoes placed at the vertices, and has a total area…
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8 November 2013
Magnets and superconductors
Which one of us has not played at attracting small pieces of iron with a magnet?
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13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
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18 January 2016
Ten years of oil demand
Eni has recently published the 14th edition of the 2015 World Oil and Gas Review...
28 August 2020
The Earth seen from above: signs of fires
This image was taken by the ASTER sensor installed on the NASA TERRA satellite platform. The image was taken on…
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8 November 2013
Magnets and superconductors
Which one of us has not played at attracting small pieces of iron with a magnet?
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Volcanic activity of Vesuvio
One of the most famous volcanic disasters was the eruption of Vesuvio in 79 A.D....
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Mountains on the Earth
The different landscapes that we analysed in the previous section are distributed...
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
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An artificial geyser
Electric and thermal power produced from geothermal energy depend on the existence of underground infiltrations...
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
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13 May 2011
Volcanic eruptions
The activity of some volcanoes is characterized by violent explosions...
Volcanic activity of Vesuvio
One of the most famous volcanic disasters was the eruption of Vesuvio in 79 A.D....
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Mountains on the Earth
The different landscapes that we analysed in the previous section are distributed...
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24 February 2011
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
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13 May 2011
Volcanic eruptions
The activity of some volcanoes is characterized by violent explosions...
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Volcanic activity of Vesuvio
One of the most famous volcanic disasters was the eruption of Vesuvio in 79 A.D....