marble: Quick Facts

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Close-up of marble showing its crystalline texture with interlocking mineral grains in shades of gray and white.

Marble statue of Julius Caesar in a toga, standing with one arm extended, displayed indoors with ornate gold-framed decor in the background.

Large marble portal of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, featuring intricate floral and geometric inlay designs, with visitors standing at the base.

Excavator and equipment at the base of a stepped open quarry with large white marble blocks in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy.

Trucks loaded with large marble blocks travel along a winding mountain road surrounded by green hills, with marble quarries visible on the slopes near Carrara, Italy.

The environmental impact of Carrara's marble quarries

Discover How Michelangelo Came to Carve the David from a Badly Blocked Piece of Carrara Marble

Watch white and colored marble quarried in Bulgarian mountains and transported for fabrication

Learn how some of the world's finest marble is quarried and processed in Carrara, Italy

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Topics

onyx marble Pentelic marble Parian marble Carrara marble calcite marble How is marble formed?How a Rejected Block of Marble Became the World’s Most Famous Statue calcium carbonate metamorphic rock slate metamorphism gneiss foliation eclogite schist cataclastite charnockite phyllite lapis lazuli

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metamorphic rock: Marble

Basalt sample returned by Apollo 15, from near a long sinous lunar valley called Hadley Rille. Measured at 3.3 years old.

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