What use is middle Tennessees limestone and phosphate?
Limestone is used in many ways. Since the founding of Nashville, limestone has been used as a building stone. The state capitol building was built in the middle of the 19th century from limestone from the Bigby member of the Bigby-Cannon Formation (Nashville Group) In fact, during the 19th century the Bigby member was called “Capitol Limestone.” Hume-Fogg High School (Broadway between 7th and 8th) was built in 1912 of the lower Dove-colored member of the Bigby-Cannon Formation. (the lower of the two light colored strata in our normal fault. In recent years, most of the limestone quarried in Nashville is sold as crushed stone. This is used for many purposes. • It is used in road building, for creating the foundation for the road and mixed with the asphalt to pave the road. • It is used in agriculture, spread on fields to reduce the soil’s acidity. • It is used in making cement The major use of phosphate is in agricultural fertilizer. However, phosphate has many other uses. (photo is an
