Mar­ble. Gen­e­sis, vari­eties, use

Mar­ble is a frozen sym­pho­ny of nature in stone, where every vein and shade tells the sto­ry of mil­lions of years of for­ma­tion of this mas­ter­piece of nature. In Greek, mar­maros means ‘shin­ing stone’. It has long been used by mankind for con­struc­tion and archi­tec­tur­al pur­pos­es. The first mar­ble objects date back to the Neolith­ic peri­od (10–3 thou­sand years BC) in Ancient Greece, where there were many mar­ble quar­ries.

Mar­ble is includ­ed in the list of min­er­als of nation­al impor­tance approved by the Res­o­lu­tion of the Cab­i­net of Min­is­ters of Ukraine dat­ed Decem­ber 12, 1994, No. 827, as a raw mate­r­i­al for fac­ing mate­ri­als (dec­o­ra­tive stones).

Conditions of formation

Mar­ble is a meta­mor­phic rock con­sist­ing almost entire­ly (more than 95%) of the min­er­al cal­cite (CaCO₃), some­times with an admix­ture of dolomite (CaMg(CO₃)₂). If the car­bon­ate rock con­tains sil­i­cates or quartz (from 5 to 50%), such rocks are called sil­i­cate or quartz mar­bles, or cal­ci­fiers.

Mar­bles are formed as a result of region­al and con­tact meta­mor­phism. In region­al meta­mor­phism, the main fac­tors are tem­per­a­ture and pres­sure, and the influ­ence of flu­ids is man­i­fest­ed to a greater or less­er extent. The recrys­talli­sa­tion of car­bon­ate rocks pro­duces mar­bles of high degrees of meta­mor­phism.

When intru­sions occur among car­bon­ate rocks (dolomites, lime­stones) under con­di­tions of high tem­per­a­ture gra­di­ent, low litho­sta­t­ic pres­sure (up to 10–15 MPa) and active inter­ac­tion of flu­ids, con­tact mar­bles are formed. The width and dimen­sions of the con­tact halo are deter­mined by the depth of for­ma­tion and con­fig­u­ra­tion of the mag­ma body, its com­po­si­tion and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of flu­id inter­ac­tion with host rocks.

Physical properties

The main phys­i­cal prop­er­ties by which mar­bles are eval­u­at­ed are as fol­lows:

• den­si­ty — 1.9–2.9 g/cm³;
• hard­ness (Mohs scale) — 3–4;
• mois­ture absorp­tion — 0.15–0.6%;
• poros­i­ty — up to 1%;
• com­pres­sion — 100–250 MPa;
• frac­ture resis­tance — 10–30 MPa.

In addi­tion to its strength, mar­ble is quite plas­tic, which makes it easy to cut or pol­ish, as its struc­ture remains unchanged. In addi­tion, mar­ble is resis­tant to var­i­ous chem­i­cals, water or frost.

Types of marble

The vari­ety of colours of mar­ble is explained by the pres­ence of var­i­ous min­er­al impu­ri­ties in its com­po­si­tion, which cause this dif­fer­ence.

The white colour of mar­ble is due to the almost absence of impu­ri­ties inside and its homo­ge­neous com­po­si­tion. White mar­ble is the pre­ferred vari­ety when it comes to inte­ri­or design. The most famous deposits are the Carar­ra deposit in Italy and Paros in Greece.

The beige colour of mar­ble is giv­en by an admix­ture of limonite or man­ganese. Its sat­u­ra­tion depends on the amount of impu­ri­ties. It is used for facade cladding or for the man­u­fac­ture of exter­nal dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments. Beige mar­ble is quar­ried from the Bot­ti­ci­no quar­ries in the Breshia region of Italy and Cre­ma Marfil in Spain.

The mar­ble gets its pink colour due to the con­tent of iron oxide. The sat­u­ra­tion also depends on the amount: if there is lit­tle of it, the mar­ble will be pale pink, but if there is more, it will be red or bur­gundy. Rosso Asi­a­go Al Con­tro mar­ble is quar­ried in Italy.

The mar­ble acquires its green colour due to the con­tent of mag­ne­sium-iron hydrosil­i­cates (ser­pen­tine group). Green mar­ble is quar­ried in Guatemala (Green Guatemala mar­ble), Italy (Verde Alpi), and India.

The blue colour of mar­ble is rare and is explained by the con­tent of blue diop­side. Such vari­eties are mined in Brazil (Cal­cite Azu­la­ta, Azul Mare­da) and Turkey (Blue Jeans).

Grey and black mar­ble is coloured by the pres­ence of biotite, horn­blendite and car­bon. Black mar­ble is mined in Spain (Black Mar­quina and Nero Mar­qi­u­na) and Turkey (Absolute Black Mar­ble).

Deposits in Ukraine

In Ukraine, deposits of mar­ble and mar­bleized lime­stone are spread across the Ukrain­ian Shield — Kozi­ivske, Radomyshlske, Nehre­bivske; in Tran­scarpathia — Velykokami­anetske, Novose­lytske, Dilovetske, Holo­vatynske, Mal­orozynske, Pol­unske; in Don­bas — Khrystysche, Dokuchaievske, Novopavlivske; and in Transnis­tria and Crimea — Mar­ble Bal­ka, Biiuk-Yankoiske.

The Nehre­bivske deposit of dolomitic mar­ble is locat­ed in Zhy­to­myr Oblast. Among the thick­ness of gneiss­es and amphi­bo­lites lies a plate-like body of dolomitic mar­bles. In appear­ance, these are medi­um-grained, mas­sive light-gray rocks, in places with inclu­sions of dark-col­ored min­er­als.

The Velykokami­anetske deposit of mar­bleized lime­stone is locat­ed in the Tiachiv dis­trict of Tran­scarpathi­an Oblast. Sev­er­al vari­eties of lime­stone are dis­tin­guished here: pink, red, yel­low brec­ciat­ed and striped. The deposit is asso­ci­at­ed with an anti­cli­nal fold com­posed of Juras­sic lime­stones. Min­ing and hydro­ge­o­log­i­cal con­di­tions are favor­able for open-pit min­ing. The mar­bleized lime­stone pol­ish­es well and can be used for fac­ing build­ings and struc­tures.

Oth­er deposits in Tran­scarpathia are used to obtain white and col­ored crushed stone (Dilovetske), as well as fac­ing stone (Pech­erne, Sau­li­ak, etc.).

Areas of uses

Mar­ble, thanks to its strength, beau­ty, and unique nat­ur­al pat­terns, has wide appli­ca­tions in var­i­ous fields:

• Archi­tec­ture and con­struc­tion — mar­ble is used for fac­ing build­ings, cre­at­ing an ele­gant and lux­u­ri­ous appear­ance. It is often used for floors, walls, coun­ter­tops, and columns in inte­ri­or spaces, adding a sense of grandeur and sophis­ti­ca­tion.
• Art and sculp­ture — many famous sculp­tures have been carved from mar­ble, such as Michelan­gelo’s “David” or ancient Greek stat­ues. Sculp­tors con­tin­ue to use mar­ble as a mate­r­i­al for cre­at­ing con­tem­po­rary art­works due to its dura­bil­i­ty and aes­thet­ic appeal.
• Inte­ri­or design — mar­ble coun­ter­tops in kitchens or bath­rooms are pop­u­lar due to their aes­thet­ic appeal and wear resis­tance. Mar­ble fire­places add clas­sic lux­u­ry and ele­gance to homes while the mate­r­i­al with­stands high tem­per­a­tures well.
• Land­scape design — mar­ble details are often used in gar­dens and parks, adding a refined accent to the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment.
• Tech­nol­o­gy and indus­try — mar­ble chips are used in the man­u­fac­ture of con­crete, asphalt, and oth­er build­ing mate­ri­als.
• Memo­r­i­al struc­tures — mar­ble is often used for cre­at­ing tomb­stones and memo­r­i­al struc­tures due to its dura­bil­i­ty and sym­bol­ic sig­nif­i­cance.

Mar­ble is a ver­sa­tile mate­r­i­al that com­bines nat­ur­al beau­ty, strength, and prac­ti­cal­i­ty. It is used in var­i­ous fields, from archi­tec­ture and art to indus­try and inte­ri­or design, mak­ing it one of the most sought-after nat­ur­al stones in the world.