Lesson 6: Metamorphic Construction Materials

Lesson 6: Metamorphic Construction Materials

This weeks assignment is to find a metamorphic rock used in construction.  The field trip for this week was just short drive to the home improvement store.  Marble of the Deseret Limestone can be found naturally in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Below is a sample of marble. Limestone is the parent rock of marble, and is composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, and is nonfoliated. Marble that has been exposed to low levels of metamorphism will have very small calcite crystals. Marble is relatively soft, only a 3 on the Mohs scale.  This softness makes it easy to cut and form.

When impurities are found in the parent stone, the marble can take on the different colors of pink, gray, green, even black.  When the limestone has shale interbedded it appears banded and exhibits foliation.

 

Marble is commonly used in countertop construction and is usually polished to a high luster. This allows attractive pieces of marble to be cut, polished, and used as floor tiles, architectural panels, facing stone, window sills, stair treads, columns, and many other pieces of decorative stone.