The wiborg granite batholith—the main production area for granite in finland

Abstract

The 1640 Ma Wiborg rapakivi granite batholith is the most important area for natural stone production in Finland. The main quarried stone varieties, Baltic Brown, Baltic Green, Carmen Red/Karelia Red and Eagle Red, are regularly produced in large scale for the global stone market as unique stone qualities. The unique visual appearance with the rapakivi texture, in combination with high durability and long life cycles, makes these stones attractive. During the recent years, the batholith has been studied in several projects by the Geological Survey of Finland, including regional explorations, detailed site investigations, and development of exploration methods. The general regional exploration activities indicate that the batholith as a whole have a good general natural stone potential for the future, which forms a basis for further development. With the new ENPI project more detailed knowledge on the new potential sites for natural stone will be gained.