Can Marble Be Foliated

Truth is marble and quartzite can be foliated but it is hard to detect.

Can marble be foliated.

Marble was considered one of the most beautiful and useful rocks throughout history. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material. 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. 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.

Examples of foliated metamorphic rocks would be schist gneiss and slate. Marble is a metamorphic rock formed when limestone is subjected to high pressure or heat. Although it is still used for making statures this rock can also be. Foliation is more easily seen on a microscopic scale rather than in hand specimen.

Marble will not show noticeable foliation although it undergoes some pressure during metamorphism. The minerals in the rock are aligned and look platey or banded according to how pressure was applied to the rock during that phase. Even calcite crystals realign. It is because they are made of only one mineral.

Foliated metamorphic rocks such as gneiss phyllite schist and slate have a layered or banded appearance that is produced by exposure to heat and directed pressure.