Many of you reading this may think you know your marble types. Anyone who has been in the stone industry for a while should be able to tell marble from granite and limestone right? Well take the following test and see how much you really know. MARBLE, GRANITE OR LIMESTONE? Each one of the following stones are either marble granite or limestone. Place and M for Marble a G for Granite or an L for Limestone next to each line to identify where it fits. NEGRO MARQUINA _____ ROJO ALICANTE _____ BIANCO CARRARA_____ TRAVERTINE CLASSICO_____ CREMA MARFIL_____ EMPERADOR_____ CHANDORE_____ JERUSALEM STONE_____ ROSATTA_____ How many of the above did you classify as marble? You may be surprised to discover that only one of the above materials is true marble (see answers ar the end of article). The rest are all limestone except for Ubatuba which is a granite. Many of the materials that we deal with everyday in the stone industry are often mistaken for marble. How many times have you heard someone talk about travertine marble? Why the confusion? To understand the confusion we need to take a close look at the common term marble and the geological term marble . The history of the word Marble is interesting and can explain why it is misused today. Marble was derived from the French word Marbre which was derived from the Latin word Marmor . Marmor was derived from the Greek word Marmaros . Marmaros is defined as a glittering or sparkling stone. Several other Greek words contribute to the word Marmaros . Marnantai relates to the crushing and deformation forces of nature as reflected on the surface of certain stone. Now lets take a look at Mr. Webster s definition of marble which states the following: 1.a: limestone that is more or less crystallized by metamorphism that ranges from granular to compact in texture that is capable of taking a high polish and that is used especially in architecture and sculpture. 1.b: something (as a piece of sculpture) composed of or made from marble. 1.c: something suggesting marble (as in hardness coldness or smoothness). Basically any stone that will take a polish can be called marble . Now you can see how this gets confusing. Now let s look at Marble from a geological point of view. Geologists are very clear in defining marble. A rock primarily composed of calcite or dolomite and whose structure has been altered by specific geological forces is considered marble. To confuse the issue even further The American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) defines marble as a crystalline rock capable of taking a polish and composed predominantly of one or more of the following minerals: calcite dolomite or serpentine. ASTM also considers travertine a marble. Travertine is a sedimentary rock and is a limestone not a marble. An argument can be made that many of these limestones are commercially called marble. That s fine but now you know the real story. Answers: NEGRO MARQUINA __L__ ROJO ALICANTE __L__ BIANCO CARRARA __M__ TRAVERTINE CLASSICO __L__ CREMA MARFIL __L__ EMPERADOR __L__ CHANDORE _L__ JERUSALEM STONE __L__ ROSATTA __L__ Fred Hueston. Technical Editor Stone Magazine Ashlee Publishing