Marble is metamorphosed limestone or dolomite. Both limestone and dolomite have a large concentration of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Marble has many different sizes of crystals. Marble has many color variances due to the impurities present at formation. Some of the different colors of marble are white, red, black, mottled and banded, gray, pink, and green.

Marble is much harder than its parent rock. This allows it to take a polish which makes it a good material for use as a building material, making sink tops, bathtubs, and a carving stone for artists. Today, headstones are made from marble and granite because both of these rocks weather very slowly and carve well with sharp edges.

Marble is quarried in Vermont, Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, and Alabama.

Click on the "Next" button to see the parent rocks of marble.