Quarrying is the process of extracting stone, minerals, or other materials from the earth through an open pit or burrow. This activity is typically carried out in a quarry, which is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are usually used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, sand, and gravel. They are also used to obtain gravel for road building and to extract stones for landscaping.
The process of quarrying involves removing large blocks or pieces of stone from an identified and unearthed geologic deposit. Differences in the particular quarrying techniques used often stem from variations in the physical properties of the deposit itself—such as density, fracturing/bedding planes, and depth—because these characteristics influence the type of mining and extraction processes deployed.