How To Identify Marble Rock

Non glass marbles marbles have been made from non glass materials such as wood clay and stone for hundreds if not thousands of years.

How to identify marble rock.

Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism. In geology pictures of rocks can be used to help you best determine which of the three major types a particular rock belongs to. Authentic marble is a metaphoric rock formed by applying heat to limestone forming crystals of calcite a relatively soft mineral. Marble is considered to be a strong hard stone even though its primary mineral calcite only has a mohs hardness of 3.

Limestone or dolostone environment. It s a natural form of rock from the earth so its colors and patterns are unique. Marble can be scratched with a metal blade. Identify marble by looking for grains that seem to have no pattern.

One of the finest materials to use in building is marble. Marble forms at many temperatures and pressures. If the rock can t scratch glass is clearly metamorphic but the grains don t seem to have any clear orientation or pattern you are most likely working with marble. Igneous sedimentary or metamorphic.

Visit this section for a brief history of handmade marble manufacture and to see an image library to help you identify various types of handmade marbles. Because of this the surface of marble shows scratches and wear. Holing these samples up to the light and slowly turning. The visible crystals in marble give it a characteristic granular surface and appearance but there are other properties used to identify the rock.

Marble tends to be light in color. These veins form when the marble goes through its molten phase and are often composed of minerals like quartz feldspar or biotite though not every slab of marble has visible veins. Marble is one of the most common metamorphic rocks to be used in countertops and can be easily identified by the distinctive veins common in most marble surfaces. Medium to coarser grained light coloured and calcite crystals may be visible.

Marble is a metamorphic rock that is created when limestone is subjected to a considerable amount of heat and pressure within the earth s crust making it a dense and durable material. Learning the characteristics of marble will help you identify it on sight. By comparing your rock sample with photographic examples you can identify key characteristics such as how the rock was formed what minerals and other materials it contains and where the rock may have come from.