Marble Marble 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 is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material. The word "marble" derives from the Ancient Greek (), from (), "crystalline rock, shining stone", perhaps from the verb (), "to flash, sparkle, gleam"; R. S. P. Beekes has suggested that a "Pre-Greek origin is probable." This stem is also the ancestor of the English
Fencepost limestone formation so extensively for fencing." The source of this tough chalky limestone is the widespread and persistent topmost bed of the Greenhorn Limestone. The Fencepost limestone is the exceptionally wide ranging marker of the conformal contact between the Pfeifer Shale, which is the uppermost member Greenhorn Limestone below, and the Fairport Chalk, the lowest member of the Carlile Shale formation above. This stone was first scientifically mentioned as the "Fencepost limestone" by F. W. Cragin in 1896 when he originally attempted to name it Downs limestone. The Fencepost bed has also been called Benton limestone for its prominence as a