Can Marble Be Foliated

Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.

Can marble be foliated.

Although it is still used for making statures this rock can also be. Marble will not show noticeable foliation although it undergoes some pressure during metamorphism. Foliation is more easily seen on a microscopic scale rather than in hand specimen. That is because marble composition is almost 100 calcite.

It is because they are made of only one mineral. Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals most commonly calcite or dolomite marble is typically not foliated although there are exceptions in geology the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone. Marble was considered one of the most beautiful and useful rocks throughout history. Non foliated metamorphic rocks such as hornfels marble quartzite and novaculite do not have a layered or banded appearance.

In its pure form marble is a white stone with a crystalline and sugary appearance consisting of calcium carbonate caco 3 usually marble contains other minerals including quartz graphite pyrite and iron oxides these minerals can give marble a pink brown gray green or variegated coloration. Marble is a metamorphic rock formed when limestone is subjected to high pressure or heat. The minerals in the rock are aligned and look platey or banded according to how pressure was applied to the rock during that phase. Truth is marble and quartzite can be foliated but it is hard to detect.

Examples of foliated metamorphic rocks would be schist gneiss and slate.