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White Marble

		White marble is one of the most common rocks in our neighborhood, because people buy it by the bag to decorate their gardens and walkways. To learn more about white marble, scroll farther down this page.
Close-up of white marble

	How to recognize white marble
	Other rocks that look like white marble
	Special things to look for
	Where white marble came from
	How white marble formed
	Other names for white marble
	Links to Web sites about marble

How to recognize white marble

	White marble is is mostly bright white, but it may be streaked with gray.
	It's made of medium-sized crystals that glitter in the sun
	You can scratch marble into white powder with a nail or knife. (See more about the scratch test.)
	Marble is made mostly of the mineral calcite, so it bubbles gently when you put a drop of white vinegar on it.

Other rocks that look like white marble

White Chert:

	Chert is harder -- a nail scratches marble, but not chert.
	Chert is smoother -- you usually see medium-sized crystals in marble, but not in chert.
	Chert often breaks to form sharp or scalloped edges, and marble does not.

Dolostone:

	Dolostone is usually more gray in color than marble, and the crystals may be smaller than marble crystals.
	Dolostone is made mostly of the mineral, dolomite. It won't bubble in vinegar or acid, unless you scratch off some powder and put the vinegar right on the powder.

Limestone:

Limestone is usually more gray in color than marble, and the crystals are usually smaller than marble crystals.

Special things to look for

	Some pieces of marble have tiny crystals of pyrite or "fool's gold."

We're not sure where our marble came from.
There are active marble quarries in Vermont,
New York, Georgia, Colorado, and in Canada
as well. The marble sold in our area could
come from one or more of those places.

How white marble formed

White marble formed when very pure limestone
rock was buried deeply and exposed to high heat
and great pressure.

Other names for marble

We use the scientific name "marble" for this rock,
but it is also known by other names:

	We've seen 50-pound bags of marble labeled "white marble chips."
	Some types of marble also have brand or trade names, like "Polar White" and "Colorado Yule Marble."

Here are some ways to classify marble (by grouping it with similar types of rocks):

	Marble is a metamorphic rock, because great heat and pressure changed it from another type of rock (limestone) into its current form (marble).
	Marble is sometimes classified as a meta-sedimentary rock, because the original rock (limestone) was a sedimentary rock.

Links to Web sites about white marble

The Vermont Marble Exhibit is an online museum about marble:
< http://www.vermont-marble.com/home.htm >

This site has old photos and postcards of a marble
quarries in Vermont:
< http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~quarries/states/vt-proctor-photos.html >

This site has lots of photos of a marble quarry in Italy:
< http://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/pictures/italy/quarry/ >

Here are some links to companies that operate marble
quarries. We only included sites with photos of marble
quarries and marble products:
   < http://www.yulemarble.com/ >
   < http://www.renaissancestone.com/ptquary.html >