Ruina montium explained

Ruina montium (Latin, "wrecking of mountains") was an ancient Roman mining technique described by Pliny the Elder (Natural History 33.21), who served as procurator in Spain.^{[1] [2]} It is thought to draw on the principle of Pascal's barrel.^[3] Miners would excavate narrow cavities down into a mountain, whereby filling the cavities with water would cause pressures large enough to fragment thick rock walls.^{[4] [5] [6]}

See also

• Hushing
• Hydraulic mining
• Las Médulas
• Mountaintop removal mining

Notes and References

1. Pliny the Elder (1857) with John Bostock and H.T. Riley, trans., The Natural History of Pliny (London, England: Henry G. Bohn), vol. 6, Book 33, Ch. 21, pp. 101–104.
2. Book: John F. Healy. Pliny the Elder on Science and Technology. 1999. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-814687-2. 275–290.
3. Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present (Springer, 2009), p. 135.
4. Book: Rossi. Cesare. Russo. Flavio. Russo. Russo. Ancient Engineers' Inventions. 8. 2009. Springer. 978-90-481-2252-3. 133–141.
5. Book: Cesare Rossi. Flavio Russo. Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present. 26 August 2016. Springer. 978-3-319-44476-5. 185–192.
6. Book: Alfred Michael Hirt. Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235. 25 March 2010. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-957287-8. 32–45.