Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Marble

A metamorphosed limestone of interlocking calcite crystals, prized for sculpture and architecture for its workability and polish.

A pure, translucent white marble from the Greek island of Paros, the preferred stone of ancient sculptors for its waxy glow.

A famous white to blue-grey Italian marble from Carrara, prized for centuries by sculptors and architects for its purity and fine grain.

A green-and-white banded metamorphic marble whose wavy mica layers resemble the rings of a sliced onion.

The fine white marble of Mount Pentelikon used to build the Parthenon, famous for the golden patina it develops with age.

A green ornamental stone, often serpentine-rich marble or verde antique, valued for its rich green color and white veining.

A black-and-white striped chalcedony-quartz rock whose bold zebra-like banding makes it a popular ornamental and lapidary stone.

A soft, white, fine-grained limestone made almost entirely of microscopic marine plankton skeletons.

A soft, fine-grained, porous white limestone made largely of microscopic calcareous plankton skeletons, the rock that forms classic white cliffs.