When a volcano erupts many materials including ash, fragments of rock, and other miscellaneous materials are emitted. This matter falls to the earth and cools forming a variety of rocks that include tuff. Volcanic magma can be very stiff which allows air bubbles and pockets to form which results in tuff that is spongy and porous. Because volcanic matter can be formed from the materials of more than one eruption it often has a multitude of layers that are representative of different eruptions.
Because tuff is of an unpredictable make-up it has few viable current commercial uses despite having once been used widely in building and sculpture in regions where it was readily available when other materials were scarce or more difficult to obtain.
One type of tuff is called ‘welded tuff’. This is the result of two or more chunks of tuff welding together aided by extreme heat and is classified as a pyroclastic rock. Welded tuff is usually quite easy to spot and correctly identify because it if often composed of very large chunks of material attached to smaller bits in a somewhat haphazard fashion thanks to the binding power of hot ash.
Other classifications of tuff are based on the make-up of its fragments and these include: Basaltic tuff, ultramafic tuff, rhyolite tuff, and andestitic tuff among others. These types of tuff are sedimentary rocks because they are formed by the deposition and compression of sediment resulted from volcanic activity. Occasionally tuff can give off a sparkle or appear to glitter if they have crystalline fragments in their composition.
The Mediterranean is an area with an abundance of tuff and therefore it has long been a material used in construction. It can be found as the main component of walls and has also been used for more artistic purposes such as sculpture. In any case, whatever tuff is used to build should not be expected to bear a great deal of weight because of the soft and holey nature of this often malleable and permeable sedimentary rock. Despite its unreliability in tolerating weight and excessive strain, tuff is used to build railway embankments and sometimes also along roads. In cases like these, it is common to find the tuff damaged or crumbling unable to bear the burden of heavy traffic.
Because tuff is of an unpredictable make-up it has few viable current commercial uses despite having once been used widely in building and sculpture in regions where it was readily available when other materials were scarce or more difficult to obtain.
One type of tuff is called ‘welded tuff’. This is the result of two or more chunks of tuff welding together aided by extreme heat and is classified as a pyroclastic rock. Welded tuff is usually quite easy to spot and correctly identify because it if often composed of very large chunks of material attached to smaller bits in a somewhat haphazard fashion thanks to the binding power of hot ash.
Other classifications of tuff are based on the make-up of its fragments and these include: Basaltic tuff, ultramafic tuff, rhyolite tuff, and andestitic tuff among others. These types of tuff are sedimentary rocks because they are formed by the deposition and compression of sediment resulted from volcanic activity. Occasionally tuff can give off a sparkle or appear to glitter if they have crystalline fragments in their composition.
The Mediterranean is an area with an abundance of tuff and therefore it has long been a material used in construction. It can be found as the main component of walls and has also been used for more artistic purposes such as sculpture. In any case, whatever tuff is used to build should not be expected to bear a great deal of weight because of the soft and holey nature of this often malleable and permeable sedimentary rock. Despite its unreliability in tolerating weight and excessive strain, tuff is used to build railway embankments and sometimes also along roads. In cases like these, it is common to find the tuff damaged or crumbling unable to bear the burden of heavy traffic.
