A quarry was an open pit dug into the surface of a planet, for the purpose of mining substances perceived to be valuable. They were distinct from underground mine shafts — such as those which existed on the planet Peladon, (TV: The Monster of Peladon) or those exploited on the planet Ta by Milo Clancey and Dom Issigri. (TV: The Space Pirates)
Humans on Earth had been gathering stone from quarries from as early as the 19th century. (PROSE: The Shape on the Chair) In the 20th century quarries were still frequently used. The Fourth Doctor, in the company of Sarah Jane Smith, once landed in a quarry. There, blasting work was being carried out and both the time travellers were caught in the debris. While trapped under some rock, Sarah found the hand of Eldrad, which had been encased in dolomite for one hundred and fifty million years. (TV: The Hand of Fear)
The Ninth Doctor listed the endless evil and gravel quarries in the cosmos among the reasons for his retirement and marriage to Emma. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)
Behind the scenes[]
Quarries have frequently been used throughout Doctor Who's filming history to suggest alien landscapes. So ubiquitous were they in the 1963 version of the show, in particular, that they became a point of parody, for instance, in The Curse of Fatal Death.