Study of physical and mechanical properties of carbonate rocks and their applications on georesources exploration in Tunisia

The use of carbonate rocks is important worldwide due to their utility in various fields. However, their physical and mechanical characterization can determine their fields of application and their economic interest. The establishment of these properties allows the assessment of their economic importance and future use. Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) is one of the most important mechanical properties used to test carbonate rocks. Los Angeles (L.A) and Micro-Deval (MDE) coefficients are essential properties used to verify the mechanical resistances of the aggregate to be used on roadways. Analyzing these mechanical parameters determine the economic interest of rocks. The purpose of this project is to explore additional carbonate resources in Tunisia, even when the determination of some parameters is not possible. For this purpose, 30 samples with different physical and mechanical properties were chosen from 8 different sites. Two of them are well known in Tunisia: one is exploited to extract aggregates of good mechanical resistance, and the other is exploited for marble stone mining. Laboratory test results show that many unexplored sites harbor rocks with good qualities which could be exploited in different applications. UCS, LA and MDE coefficient values show new good quality carbonate-rock resources. The results determined the physical properties of studied rocks to conclude the potential use of each rock and to estimate the parameters for which the measurements are not possible.