Paul Daniel
With the remarkable growth in the economies of Latvia, Estonia and to a lesser extent Lithuania in recent years, the construction sector is seeing a lot of activity. Dolomite, used regionally for building castles, churches and manor houses since Medieval times, is still employed but its popularity has been completely overshadowed by imports of granite and marble.
Sandstone, as the name spells, is a rock formed of sand or quartz grains tightly pressed together and cemented by variety of materials like silica, iron, lime etc. The grain size, strength, kind of cementing material and compactness determine its density, permeability and the use. The colour of sandstone depends on cementing materials viz. ferruginous sandstone are red to brown, argillaceous are earthy to buff and generally white. Due to oxidation the ferruginous sandstone generally tend to change the colour from radish to brown buff, yellow and greenish.
